KWELA is valid in Collins, not in North America — 12 points
It depends on the list you play by. KWELA is in Collins, used in the UK and most of the world, but it is not in the North American lists — so in a US or Canadian game an opponent can challenge it off the board. Worth 12 points. Words with Friends does accept it.
Which word lists accept KWELA?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Not listed |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Valid |
Word power: 38 / 100
Our own measure of how useful KWELA is to know. It scores 12 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 5.6% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for KWELA
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
kwelasChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How KWELA scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in KWELA, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| k | 1 | 1 |
| w | 1 | 2 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| l | 1 | 4 |
| a | 1 | 9 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 87,138.
What does KWELA mean in Scrabble?
noun
musicSouth African
A style of South African street music built around the pennywhistle.
Kwela grew out of township life in the 1950s, when a cheap metal pennywhistle put an instrument within reach of a boy playing on a street corner. The style mixes jazz phrasing with a local rhythm, and its bright, fast whistle line is what a listener notices first. Kwela later fed into other South African popular styles once bands added guitar and drums to it.
How KWELA is used
Countable and uncountable: a kwela tune, or music simply called kwela.
- A pennywhistle carried the melody in the kwela recorded on the street.
- The word kwela describes both the music and a dance done to it.
- Kwela mixed jazz phrasing with a rhythm all its own.
- Bands added guitar and drums to kwela once it moved off the street.
- Township corners in the 1950s are where kwela was born.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of KWELA and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words starting with KWELA
1 longer words begin with KWELA.
Shorter words from the letters in KWELA
Common questions about KWELA
- Is KWELA valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts KWELA, where it scores 13 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is KWELA worth?
- KWELA is worth 12 points in Scrabble and 13 points in Words with Friends.
- What does KWELA mean?
- A style of South African street music built around the pennywhistle.
- What letters can be added to KWELA?
- KWELA takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of KWELA:
Open KWELA in the Word Finder