WHELM is a valid Scrabble word — 13 points
Yes. WHELM is accepted by every list we check: Collins, the North American lists and Words with Friends. It scores 13 points in Scrabble and 14 in Words with Friends.
Which word lists accept WHELM?
| 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: 37 / 100
Our own measure of how useful WHELM is to know. It scores 13 from 5 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 4.4% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for WHELM
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
whelmsChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How WHELM scores
Face value of the 5 tiles in WHELM, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| w | 1 | 2 |
| h | 1 | 2 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| l | 1 | 4 |
| m | 1 | 2 |
Drawing exactly these 5 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 196,061.
What does WHELM mean in Scrabble?
verb
archaicliterary
To cover completely or submerge; to overwhelm.
To whelm something is to bury or engulf it entirely, whether under water, under a great weight, or under an overpowering feeling, and whelm is in fact the older root from which overwhelm was built by adding an intensifying prefix. Modern English keeps overwhelm for everyday use and reserves the bare whelm for poetry and deliberately old-fashioned writing. When whelm does appear today it usually signals a grand or dramatic act of submerging or crushing.
How WHELM is used
Archaic and literary; largely replaced in modern speech by overwhelm, though still used for poetic effect.
- The flood rose to whelm the lowest fields.
- Grief threatened to whelm her completely.
- Waves rose to whelm the small boat.
- The poet describes darkness ready to whelm the last light of day.
- Sand had begun to whelm the buried steps of the old temple.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of WHELM and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words starting with WHELM
3 longer words begin with WHELM.
Words ending in WHELM
2 words end in WHELM. Useful as a back hook: play WHELM onto a word already on the board.
Words with WHELM inside
8 words contain WHELM in the middle. Words that start with WHELM are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in WHELM
Common questions about WHELM
- Is WHELM valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts WHELM, where it scores 14 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is WHELM worth?
- WHELM is worth 13 points in Scrabble and 14 points in Words with Friends.
- What does WHELM mean?
- To cover completely or submerge; to overwhelm.
- What letters can be added to WHELM?
- WHELM takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 5 letters of WHELM:
Open WHELM in the Word Finder