Learning the 2-letter Words

Steve Trussel

The 96 101 acceptable 2-letter words!

Update! OSPD4! There are now 101 acceptable 2-letter words... with the addition of FE   KI   OI   QI   ZA   !

The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary Fourth Edition (OSPD4) was published in 2005, with "4,000 new entries". Among these are five new 2-letter words, FE, KI, OI, QI, ZA, of major importance in the game. These changes should revolutionize scores, making the Q and Z much easier to play. [2/14/06]

OSPD3 listed 97 2-letter words, but [7/21/99] - Although the OSPD3 lists 97, Dan Brinkley, Director of Columbus Ohio Scrabble Club #494 has informed me that "DA" is no longer acceptable in tournament play, (being regarded as foreign), bringing the number down to an easy-to-remember 96! I've therefore removed "DA" from the lists below. (The "s-form" of "DE", "DES", is also no longer accepted.) TWL has replaced OSPD3 as the tournament "bible". see note at end.

There is no question but that you must know all 101 if you want to play competitive Scrabble®. Not just to use them yourself, but to recognize whether your opponent is in fact using a legal word. The table below shows them all, along with which ones can take the addition of "-s". (It doesn't necessarily mean that it's the plural form of the word - only that adding "-s" makes a legal word.) 26 of them are in gray, as they are common words which don't have to be learned: [am, an, as, at, ax, be, by, do, go, he, if, in, is, it, me, my, no, of, on, or, ox, so, to, up, us, we] (However, many of these are uncommon when "-s" is added, so they'll have to be studied later. )

The 101 2-letter words AAs ABs ADs AE AGs AHs AIs ALs AM AN ARs ASs AT AW AX AYs BAs BEs BIs BOs BYs DE DOs EDs EFs EH ELs EMs ENs ERs ESs ET EX FAs FEs GOs HAs HEs HIs HM HO IDs IFs INs IS ITs JO KAs KIs LAs LIs LO MAs ME MIs MM MOs MUs MY NA NE NOs NUs ODs OEs OF OHs OI OMs ONs OPs ORs OS OW OX OY PAs PEs PIs QIs REs SH SIs SOs TAs TIs TO UH UM UNs UPs US UTs WE WOs XIs XU YA YEs YO ZAs  Added in 2nd   Added in 3rd   Added in 4th  DA (and DEs) were removed after OSPD3 new -s forms: AGs, AHs, BEs, EDs, GOs There are no 2-letter words with C or V. There is a 2-letter J-word: JO sweetheart (that doesn't take an -s). And there is an important set of 5 X-words: AX, EX, OX, XI, XU. It's important to remember that XI has a plural form XIS, but XU has no -s form. There are two 2-letter K-words: KA, KI, and both take -s to make KAs, KIs. It should be easy to remember the 3 new valuable words, KI, QI and ZA. They all take -s. 5 words have no consonants: AA, AE, AIs, OEs, and OI (& OY), and 3 have no vowels: HM, MM and SH (& BY, MY)! Organizing the "hard words" by meaning These 8, with the J, K, Q, X, and Z are just too valuable to forget: JO sweetheart   (no -s!) KAs Egyptian spirit KIs the vital force in Chinese thought QIs the vital force in Chinese thought EX -es, -ed, -ing to cross out XIs Greek letter XU Vietnamese money   (no -s!) ZAs pizza Though DO and SO are too common to think about, they're also among the 7 common names for the notes of the scale, and they all take "-s": DOs REs MIs FAs SOs LAs TIs 8 are names for letters of the English alphabet, (a f l m n r s x). (You can make a mnemonic sentence for this, like "A film lover may need really strong x-rays" or something similar you can call on to help you remember.) Except for EX (which naturally requires "-es") they all take "-s": (Thanks to Nikki Wei for adding the letter "L", (EL) to this letter list. OSPD only lists ELL with the meaning 'the letter L', using 'elevated railway' for EL, below, but OSPD only shows one meaning per word.) A F L M N R S X AYs EFs ELs EMs ENs ARs ESs EX 2 words are "mom and pop" (the third, DA. which just sounds like one, is no longer acceptable): MAs PAs 18 are interjections. You may not think of them as "real words", but the OSPD does. These may take a little memorizing: AHs EH HAs HM MM OW SH UH YO AW ERs HIs HO OH OI OY TAs UM 3 of these have no vowels: HM, MM, SH. 4 end in -H: AH, EH, OH, UH. 11 are reversible: AH/HA, EH/HE, ER/RE, OH/HO, OW/WO, OY/YO, TA/AT, UM/MU (12 if you count MM) 9 are abbreviated forms: ABs abdominal muscle EDs education ADs advertisement MOs moment AGs agriculture OPs op-art BIs bi-sexual ELs elevated railways ZAs pizza     2 are oldish English: LO interj. YEs you 5 are slightly slangy: BOs UNs NA ET YA pal one no ate you 4 are the names of Greek letters: MUs NUs PIs XIs And 2 are fairly familiar psychological words: IDs psyche part OMs mantra 5 are very useful for having no consonants, (including OI mentioned above) AAs lava AE one AIs sloth OEs whirlwind OI interj. of dismay or pain     That leaves only 12 hard "foreign" words to memorize: ALs Asian tree BAs Egyptian spirit DE from FEs Hebrew letter LIs Chinese measure NE nee, born ODs natural force OS bone PEs Hebrew letter SIs note of scale UTs note of scale WOs woe Looking at it this way, you ought to be able to remember the 101 2-letter words with just a few minutes practice each day for a week. How to practice? Study these charts, take a pencil and paper and try to write out the 101 words! Keep doing it till you can. "Guaranteed" to add an average of 50 points to your game! Next step: learn which ones take -s! What do these 2-letter words have in common?: AH, AL, AS, BA, BO, BY, IN, IS, IT, LA, MA, MI, MU, NA, NE answer Note from Steven Alexander's Scrabble FAQ: As of March 1998, club and tournament play in North America use an unexpurgated lexicon, including all two- to nine-letter words and inflections, titled "Official Tournament and Club Word List" (but generally known as "TWL" or "TWL98"), sold only to members of NSA. Send $9.95 plus sales tax for AR, CA, MA, OH or WA, specifying membership number, to Merriam-Webster Inc. P.O. Box 281 Springfield, MA 01102 (800) 201-5029 x100 (413) 734-3134 x100 or $13.95 CAD in Canada, to Thomas Allen & Son, Ltd 390 Steelcase Rd E Markham, ON L3R 1G2 (905) 475-9126 What do they have in common? AH, AL, AS, BA, BO, BY, IN, IS, IT, LA, MA, MI, MU, NA, NE along with DO, GO, HA, ID, PE, RE, SH, WE, YE all make 3-letter words starting with A!

RevolverMap added Nov. 9, 2009