What this word unscrambler does
This word solver doubles as a letter solver: type the letters you are holding and the tool lists every valid English word you can build from them. It was made for the moments every word game player knows: a rack of seven tiles that looks like nothing, a Wordle with four letters locked in, a newspaper jumble that will not click.
Behind the box is a dictionary of 172,830 words. The page checks each candidate against your letters in a few milliseconds, then sorts the matches so the longest words come first. Every word carries a small number in the corner: its Scrabble tile score, so you can see at a glance whether the longer word is also the better-scoring one. Often it is not.
The tiles above are the rack QUIETS?. Type it in and the tool finds seven-letter plays such as QUIETUS (the blank becomes a second U), INQUEST and EQUITES, alongside dozens of shorter words, each with its score.
How to get the most out of it
- Enter your tiles. Type the letters in any order. Spaces and punctuation are ignored. Add one
?for every blank tile. - Read the groups. Results are grouped by word length, longest first. Highlighted tiles mark the highest-scoring words in the list.
- Switch to score order. Tap By score to rank every word by its tile value instead of its length. In Scrabble a short word on a premium square often beats a long one on plain squares.
- Use filters for board plays. If a word has to start with a letter already on the board, put it in Starts with or Must contain. Remember that you then need one extra tile for that board letter, so type it into your rack as well.
Playing a board letterIf the board has an R you want to build through, add the R to your rack letters and use Must contain: r. That finds only words that use it, so you do not waste time on plays that ignore the board.
How we decide which words count
Word games are only fun when everyone agrees on the rules, and the rules are really a question of which dictionary is in charge. In North America that is the NASPA Word List (NWL); elsewhere it is Collins Scrabble Words. Neither list is free to redistribute, so this site uses ENABLE, a public-domain dictionary that has been a standard for word-game software for decades.
ENABLE is close to NWL but not the same. A small number of newer words are missing and a handful of older ones are present that official lists have dropped. We are upfront about this because it matters: if you are playing in a club or tournament, treat this tool as a fast idea generator and verify any surprising play against the official list your event uses. For friendly games, solving puzzles and learning new words, it is more than enough. You can read the details on our editorial standards page.
Strategy: unscrambling is only half the job
Seeing every possible word is not the same as picking the right one. A few habits separate the players who use a word finder well from those who simply play the longest word it shows:
- Compare score, not length. A five-letter word using J or Z on a double-letter square can out-score a bingo-length word with no premium letters.
- Look at what you keep. After a play you draw replacements. Holding a balanced mix of vowels and consonants gives you better options next turn than clearing out all your good tiles for a few extra points.
- Watch the board, not just the rack. A great word that opens a triple word score for your opponent is rarely a great play. Our Scrabble strategy guide goes into this in detail.
- Learn the short words. Two- and three-letter words are how you fit tiles into tight spaces and score twice with one move. See the full two-letter word list and three-letter list.
Beyond Scrabble: other uses
The same engine helps with plenty of puzzles. Newspaper jumbles and cryptic crossword anagram clues are exactly an unscrambling problem. Teachers use it to make spelling and vocabulary sets from a given set of letters. Writers use it when a title or character name needs to hide a word. If you only want words that use every letter, jump to the Anagram Solver. If you have a pattern such as C_T_G_R_, use the Crossword Solver.
Frequently asked questions
How does the word unscrambler work?
It checks your letters against a dictionary of 172,830 words. A word is listed when every one of its letters can be taken from your tiles. Each blank tile (typed as ?) can stand in for any single letter. Results are grouped by length so the longest plays appear first.
Is the unscrambler free to use?
Yes. There is no sign-up, no limit on searches and nothing to install. Everything runs in your browser, so your letters are never sent to a server.
Which dictionary does it use?
The word list is ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon), a public-domain dictionary of 172,830 words widely used for word games. It is very close to the lists used in North American Scrabble but not identical, so check unusual words against the official list for tournament play.
How do I use a blank tile?
Type a question mark (?) for each blank. For the rack QUIET?, the blank can become any letter, so the tool also finds six-letter words like QUIETS and EQUITY. Blanks score zero points, and the score shown reflects that.
Can I find words that start or end with certain letters?
Open the Filters section under the letter box. You can require a prefix, a suffix, letters that must appear, and a minimum word length. This is handy when a word has to connect to tiles already on the board.
What is the difference between this and the Anagram Solver?
The unscrambler lists every word you can make from some or all of your letters. The Anagram Solver only returns words that use all of your letters exactly once, which is what you want for jumbles and puzzles.
Are the scores for Scrabble or Words With Friends?
The unscrambler shows standard Scrabble tile values. For Words With Friends, which values several letters differently, use the Words With Friends Solver.
Why does a word I know not show up?
Common reasons: it is a proper noun or abbreviation (not allowed in most word games), it needs a letter you do not have, or it is spelled differently in your dictionary. British spellings such as COLOUR appear in Collins, the dictionary used outside North America, and may be missing here.