ZEN is a valid Scrabble word — 12 points
Yes. ZEN is accepted by every list we check: Collins, the North American lists and Words with Friends. It scores 12 points in Scrabble and 13 in Words with Friends.
Which word lists accept ZEN?
| 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: 54 / 100
Our own measure of how useful ZEN is to know. It scores 12 from 3 tiles, takes 1 hook, and its letters make up 6.3% of the bag. How this number is calculated
Hooks for ZEN
Front hooks — 0
None.
Back hooks — 1
zensChecked against OSPD, TWL, CSW, WWF. Takes an S, so it hooks onto plurals easily.
How ZEN scores
Face value of the 3 tiles in ZEN, before any board multiplier.
Tiles you need
| Letter | Needed | In the bag |
|---|---|---|
| z | 1 | 1 |
| e | 1 | 12 |
| n | 1 | 6 |
Drawing exactly these 3 tiles as an opening rack: 1 in 2,246.
What does ZEN mean in Scrabble?
noun
A school of Buddhism that reaches understanding through meditation rather than study.
Zen came to Japan from China, where the same word is chan, and both go back to a Sanskrit term for meditation. In English it has drifted a long way: a zen kitchen or a zen approach means calm and uncluttered, and that use has no connection to the teaching beyond a mood.
How ZEN is used
Uncountable, and usually capitalised for the school. Lower case in the loose modern sense.
- He took up zen and gave up explaining it.
- The room is described as zen in every listing.
- Zen reached Japan from China and changed on the way.
- A zen garden has very little in it and takes constant work.
- The loose sense of zen would puzzle anybody who practises it.
Written for this site: 1 meaning of ZEN and 5 example sentences, not copied from a published dictionary.
Words starting with ZEN
12 longer words begin with ZEN.
Words ending in ZEN
Showing 24 of 36 words that end in ZEN. Useful as a back hook: play ZEN onto a word already on the board.
Words with ZEN inside
Showing 24 of 134 words that contain ZEN somewhere in the middle. Words that start with ZEN are listed separately above, so nothing is repeated.
Shorter words from the letters in ZEN
Common questions about ZEN
- Is ZEN valid in Words with Friends?
- Yes. Words with Friends accepts ZEN, where it scores 13 points. That game keeps its own list, separate from the Scrabble dictionaries.
- How many points is ZEN worth?
- ZEN is worth 12 points in Scrabble and 13 points in Words with Friends.
- What does ZEN mean?
- A school of Buddhism that reaches understanding through meditation rather than study.
- What letters can be added to ZEN?
- ZEN takes 1 hook: 0 in front and 1 at the end.
Every word you can build from the 3 letters of ZEN:
Open ZEN in the Word Finder