LEAM is valid in Collins, not in North America — 6 points
It depends on the list you play by. LEAM 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 6 points. Words with Friends does not accept it either.
Which word lists accept LEAM?
| 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 | Not listed |
Word power: 39 / 100
Our own measure of how useful LEAM is to know. It scores 6 from 4 tiles, takes 3 hooks, and its letters make up 6.8% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for LEAM
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How LEAM scores
Face value of the 4 tiles in LEAM, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| l | 1 | 4 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| a | 1 | 9 |
| m | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 4 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 4,538.
What stands out about LEAM
- The same 4 tiles also spell 5 other words, so the rack is worth re-reading before you play it.
Counted from the four word lists we hold, not taken from anywhere else. How we calculate things
What does LEAM mean in Scrabble?
noun
Scotsdialect
A gleam or sudden flash of light, especially from fire, lightning, or the sky.
A leam was the brief brightness thrown off by a flame or a streak of lightning, a word kept alive mainly in Scottish and northern English dialect speech and in the related archaic form leme. Standard English speakers today reach for gleam or flash instead, so leam now appears chiefly in dialect glossaries and older regional writing.
How LEAM is used
Dialect and archaic; not used in ordinary modern speech.
- A sudden leam lit up the hillside as the storm passed over.
- The old shepherd spoke of a leam on the water just before the boat appeared.
- By the leam of the dying fire she read the letter one more time.
- Local writers use leam where others would simply say gleam.
- He watched the leam of the lighthouse sweep across the bay.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of LEAM and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Anagrams of LEAM
The 4 tiles of LEAM in a different order — 5 found.
Words starting with LEAM
3 longer words begin with LEAM.
Words ending in LEAM
5 words end in LEAM. Useful as a back hook: play LEAM onto a word already on the board.
Words with LEAM inside
17 words contain LEAM in the middle. Words that start with LEAM are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in LEAM
Common questions about LEAM
- Is LEAM valid in Words with Friends?
- No. Words with Friends keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries, and LEAM is not in it.
- How many points is LEAM worth?
- LEAM is worth 6 points in Scrabble and 8 points in Words with Friends.
- What does LEAM mean?
- A gleam or sudden flash of light, especially from fire, lightning, or the sky.
- What letters can be added to LEAM?
- LEAM takes 3 hooks: 2 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 4 letters of LEAM:
Open LEAM in the Word Finder