SHEVA is valid in Collins, not in North America — 11 points
It depends on the list you play by. SHEVA 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 11 points. Words with Friends does accept it.
Which word lists accept SHEVA?
| 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: 37 / 100
Our own measure of how useful SHEVA is to know. It scores 11 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 5.8% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for SHEVA
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
shevasChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How SHEVA scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in SHEVA, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| s | 1 | 4 |
| h | 1 | 2 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| v | 1 | 2 |
| a | 1 | 9 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 43,569.
What stands out about SHEVA
- The same 5 tiles also spell 2 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 SHEVA mean in Scrabble?
noun
technical
A diacritic mark placed under a Hebrew letter that shows either no vowel follows or a very short, reduced vowel sound.
In Hebrew grammar a sheva sits beneath a consonant and comes in two kinds, a silent sheva that closes a syllable and a vocal sheva that opens one with a brief murmured sound. Students of biblical Hebrew learn to read sheva early, since getting it wrong changes where a word breaks into syllables. The mark itself looks like two small vertical dots, quite unlike the larger vowel points used for full vowels. English writers use sheva when discussing Hebrew phonology or transliterating scripture, so the term rarely appears outside grammar and linguistics texts.
How SHEVA is used
Technical; used mainly in Hebrew grammar, linguistics and transliteration guides rather than in everyday speech.
- The teacher explained that a sheva under the first letter meant no vowel sound was heard there.
- A vocal sheva gives the syllable a quick, half-swallowed vowel rather than a full one.
- Grammar books mark a sheva with two small vertical dots beneath the consonant.
- Reading the prayer aloud, she paused to work out whether the sheva was silent or vocal.
- Transliterations sometimes drop the sheva entirely, which can confuse learners of Hebrew.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of SHEVA and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Anagrams of SHEVA
The 5 tiles of SHEVA in a different order — 2 found.
Words starting with SHEVA
1 longer words begin with SHEVA.
Shorter words from the letters in SHEVA
Common questions about SHEVA
- Is SHEVA valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts SHEVA, where it scores 11 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is SHEVA worth?
- SHEVA is worth 11 points in Scrabble and 11 points in Words with Friends.
- What does SHEVA mean?
- A diacritic mark placed under a Hebrew letter that shows either no vowel follows or a very short, reduced vowel sound.
- What letters can be added to SHEVA?
- SHEVA takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of SHEVA:
Open SHEVA in the Word Finder