NELLY is a valid Scrabble word — 8 points
Yes. NELLY is accepted by every list we check: Collins, the North American lists and Words with Friends. It scores 8 points in Scrabble and 10 in Words with Friends.
Which word lists accept NELLY?
| Official Scrabble Players DictionaryUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
|---|---|
| Official Tournament and Club Word ListUSA, Canada, Thailand | Valid |
| Collins Scrabble WordsEnglish in most countries | Valid |
| Words with FriendsZynga word list | Valid |
Word power: 31 / 100
Our own measure of how useful NELLY is to know. It scores 8 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 5.6% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for NELLY
Front hooks — 1
snellyBack hooks — 0
None.
Checked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF.
How NELLY scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in NELLY, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| n | 1 | 6 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| l | 2 | 4 |
| y | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 87,138.
What does NELLY mean in Scrabble?
noun
informalBritish
A foolish, timid, or overly cautious person, used informally in British English.
Nelly usually appears as a mild put-down for someone who fusses over small things or hesitates instead of acting. The word survives today mainly inside the fixed phrase not on your nelly, a cheerful way of saying certainly not or under no circumstances. That phrase began as Cockney rhyming slang, where nelly duff stood in for puff, meaning breath or life, and the shortened form kept only the first part. Because the idiom is so familiar, many speakers know not on your nelly without ever hearing nelly used alone.
How NELLY is used
Chiefly heard in British informal speech, most often inside the set phrase not on your nelly rather than as a free-standing noun.
- Stop being such a nelly and just ask her.
- Not on your nelly would I lend him money again.
- He called his brother a nelly for refusing to try the ride.
- She laughed off the dare with a firm not on your nelly.
- Only a nelly would turn down a free meal like that.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of NELLY and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words ending in NELLY
3 words end in NELLY. Useful as a back hook: play NELLY onto a word already on the board.
Shorter words from the letters in NELLY
Common questions about NELLY
- Is NELLY valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts NELLY, where it scores 10 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is NELLY worth?
- NELLY is worth 8 points in Scrabble and 10 points in Words with Friends.
- What does NELLY mean?
- A foolish, timid, or overly cautious person, used informally in British English.
- What letters can be added to NELLY?
- NELLY takes 1 hook: 1 in front and 0 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of NELLY:
Open NELLY in the Word Finder