Two-Letter Scrabble Words – Memorization Tips

In competitive games of Scrabble, the importance of shorter words cannot be underestimated. Although notoriously difficult to remember, 2-letter words can prove to be the difference between a loss and a win, allowing players to make the most of awkward letter combinations.

In total, the US Scrabble dictionary has 106 2-letter words.
However, the UK Scrabble dictionary features 20 additional 2LWs (making 127 in total).
The letter O appears 13.39% of the time in 2-letter Scrabble words, more than any other letter.
It is also the most-common letter to start and end a 2LW, present in 13.39% of words in both cases.
The second and third-most common letters to start a Scrabble 2LW are A (in 12.60% of words) and E (in 10.24% of words).
C, J, Q, V and Z are the only letters not to end a 2-letter word.
However, the letter V does not appear in any of Scrabble’s 2LWs.

Memorizing 2LWs in Scrabble

To increase your ability to memorize each of Scrabble’s 2-letter words, it may be best to focus on learning one of the following groups of words at a time, starting with smaller groupings. Once you have one group memorized, you can move on to a new group and continue building your vocabulary.

Note: Groupings have been made based on various sources and some of the words appear across multiple groups. The meaning given to each word has been included for memorability and does not necessarily match official Scrabble dictionaries.

Well-known words

Most of the words in this category should already be recognized and understood by most regular players. This group should require less memory work and should already stand out to you when viewing your rack and the board.

#	Word	Word score
1	AM	4
2	AN	2
3	AS	2
4	AT	2
5	AX	9
6	BE	4
7	BY	7
8	DO	3
9	GI	3
10	GO	3
11	HE	5
12	HI	5
13	IF	5
14	IN	2
15	IS	2
16	IT	2
17	ME	4
18	MY	7
19	NO	2
20	OF	5
21	OM	4
22	ON	2
23	OR	2
24	OX	9
25	SO	2
26	TO	2
27	UP	4
28	US	2
29	WE	5

Abbreviations, initialisms and slang

These word types have been grouped together as although they should be quite well known, they are not regular words in the strictest sense. This group contains words that may require specific knowledge from the player in different areas and as such, they can be harder to memorize.

#	Word	Common meaning	Word type	Word score
1	AA	Alcoholics anonymous	Initialism	2
2	AD	Advertisement	Abbreviation	3
3	AI	Artificial intelligence	Initialism	2
4	BA	British Airways	Initialism	4
5	BI	Business intelligence	Initialism	4
6	BO	Body odor	Initialism	4
7	DA	Dad	Abbreviation	3
8	EA	Electronic Arts	Initialism	2
9	ER	Emergency room	Initialism	2
10	ET	Extra-terrestrial	Initialism	2
11	EX	Ex-partner	Abbreviation	9
12	FY	Financial year	Initialism	8
13	ID	Identification	Initialism	3
14	IO	Input/output	Initialism	2
15	LA	Los Angeles	Initialism	2
16	LO	Low	Slang	2
17	MA	Mother	Slang	4
18	MO	Modus operandi	Initialism	4
19	NA	No	Slang	2
20	NY	New York	Initialism	5
21	OD	Overdose	Initialism	3
22	OK	Okay	Initialism	6
23	OP	Operation	Abbreviation	4
24	OS	Operating system	Initialism	2
25	PA	Father	Slang	4
26	SO	Significant other	Initialism	2
27	ST	Street	Abbreviation	2
28	TA	Thanks	Slang	2
29	UN	United Nations	Initialism	2
30	YA	Yes	Slang	5
31	YE	You	Slang	5
32	YO	Hello	Slang	5
33	ZA	Pizza	Slang	11

Repeating letter words

This should be the easiest set of words to remember for most players, featuring only four different words with double letters. In addition, 3 out of the 4 words are double vowel combinations.

#	Word	Word score
1	AA	2
2	EE	2
3	MM	6
4	OO	2

Interjections

To memorize interjections, try to think of other noises that are made when a person is communicating to another person or group of people. Pronunciation of these words can be the same or very similar to the others given, so contemplate different spellings to recall different words in the list.

#	Word	Common meaning	Word score
1	AH	Expression of surprise	5
2	AW	Expression of sympathy	5
3	EH	Expression of confusion	5
4	EW	Expression of disgust	5
5	HA	Expression of triumph	5
6	HM	Expression of thinking	7
7	HO	Expression of surprise	5
8	MM	Expression of thinking	6
9	OH	Expression of multiple emotions	5
10	OI	Expression to attract attention	2
11	OW	Expression of pain	5
12	OY	Expression to attract attention	5
13	SH	Expression to indicate the need to be quiet	5
14	UH	Expression of thinking	5
15	UM	Expression of thinking	4

Words that sound similar to letters

This grouping should provide players with an easier set of words to memorize as it is just based on the alphabet. The only real difficulty with this set is remembering exactly which letters feature and which letters are absent.

#	Word	Sounds similar to	Word score
1	AY	A	5
2	BE	B	4
3	SI	C	2
4	DE	D	3
5	EE	E	2
6	EF	F	5
7	EL	L	2
8	EM	M	4
9	EN	N	2
10	OH	O	5
11	PE	P	4
12	AR	R	2
13	ES	S	2
14	TE	T	2
15	YU	U	5
16	EX	X	9
17	ZE	Z	11

Musical notes

This word group may already be known by anyone with a passion for singing or playing musical instruments. Simply roll through the solfeggio musical note names and you will already be seven words better off in Scrabble!

#	Word	Musical note	Word score
1	DO	C	3
2	RE	D	2
3	MI	E	4
4	FA	F	5
5	SO	G	2
6	LA	A	2
7	TI	B	2

Greek letters

If you have a passion for learning new languages or are well-versed in the Greek alphabet, there are just four words of his type for you to learn. Only two letters end each of the words, which can also make them easier to recall.

#	Word	Word score
1	MU	4
2	NU	2
3	PI	4
4	XI	9

Power words

Each of the words in this category have been selected as playing them in Scrabble will net you either 9 or 11 points with just two characters. To remember these, you will just need to think of words that include the game’s highest scoring letters (J, K, X, Q and Z).

#	Word	Word score
1	AX	9
2	EX	9
3	JA	9
4	JO	9
5	KY	9
6	OX	9
7	QI	11
8	ZA	11
9	ZE	11
10	ZO	11

Miscellaneous words

After using all of the aforementioned groupings, you should be left with a total of 24 miscellaneous words to remember. Although these haven’t been categorized, players should be encouraged to find their own ways of remembering these to complete the entire list.

#	Word	Word score
1	AB	4
2	AE	2
3	AG	3
4	AL	2
5	CH	7
6	DI	3
7	ED	3
8	FE	5
9	GU	3
10	KA	6
11	KI	6
12	KO	6
13	LI	2
14	NE	2
15	OB	4
16	OE	2
17	OU	2
18	PO	4
19	UG	3
20	UR	2
21	UT	2
22	WO	5
23	XU	9

Full 2-letter word list

Instead of viewing our Scrabble 2LW groupings, you may wish to view the words in a comprehensive list. We have provided these below for you to study, alongside their word score and their presence in the US and UK game dictionaries.

#	Word	Word score	US dictionary?	UK dictionary?
1	AA	2	YES	YES
2	AB	4	YES	YES
3	AD	3	YES	YES
4	AE	2	YES	YES
5	AG	3	YES	YES
6	AH	5	YES	YES
7	AI	2	YES	YES
8	AL	2	YES	YES
9	AM	4	YES	YES
10	AN	2	YES	YES
11	AR	2	YES	YES
12	AS	2	YES	YES
13	AT	2	YES	YES
14	AW	5	YES	YES
15	AX	9	YES	YES
16	AY	5	YES	YES
17	BA	4	YES	YES
18	BE	4	YES	YES
19	BI	4	YES	YES
20	BO	4	YES	YES
21	BY	7	YES	YES
22	CH	7	NO	YES
23	DA	3	YES	YES
24	DE	3	YES	YES
25	DI	3	NO	YES
26	DO	3	YES	YES
27	EA	2	NO	YES
28	ED	3	YES	YES
29	EE	2	NO	YES
30	EF	5	YES	YES
31	EH	5	YES	YES
32	EL	2	YES	YES
33	EM	4	YES	YES
34	EN	2	YES	YES
35	ER	2	YES	YES
36	ES	2	YES	YES
37	ET	2	YES	YES
38	EW	5	YES	YES
39	EX	9	YES	YES
40	FA	5	YES	YES
41	FE	5	YES	YES
42	FY	8	NO	YES
43	GI	3	YES	YES
44	GO	3	YES	YES
45	GU	3	NO	YES
46	HA	5	YES	YES
47	HE	5	YES	YES
48	HI	5	YES	YES
49	HM	7	YES	YES
50	HO	5	YES	YES
51	ID	3	YES	YES
52	IF	5	YES	YES
53	IN	2	YES	YES
54	IO	2	NO	YES
55	IS	2	YES	YES
56	IT	2	YES	YES
57	JA	9	NO	YES
58	JO	9	YES	YES
59	KA	6	YES	YES
60	KI	6	YES	YES
61	KO	6	NO	YES
62	KY	9	NO	YES
63	LA	2	YES	YES
64	LI	2	YES	YES
65	LO	2	YES	YES
66	MA	4	YES	YES
67	ME	4	YES	YES
68	MI	4	YES	YES
69	MM	6	YES	YES
70	MO	4	YES	YES
71	MU	4	YES	YES
72	MY	7	YES	YES
73	NA	2	YES	YES
74	NE	2	YES	YES
75	NO	2	YES	YES
76	NU	2	YES	YES
77	NY	5	NO	YES
78	OB	4	NO	YES
79	OD	3	YES	YES
80	OE	2	YES	YES
81	OF	5	YES	YES
82	OH	5	YES	YES
83	OI	2	YES	YES
84	OK	6	YES	YES
85	OM	4	YES	YES
86	ON	2	YES	YES
87	OO	2	NO	YES
88	OP	4	YES	YES
89	OR	2	YES	YES
90	OS	2	YES	YES
91	OU	2	NO	YES
92	OW	5	YES	YES
93	OX	9	YES	YES
94	OY	5	YES	YES
95	PA	4	YES	YES
96	PE	4	YES	YES
97	PI	4	YES	YES
98	PO	4	YES	YES
99	QI	11	YES	YES
100	RE	2	YES	YES
101	SH	5	YES	YES
102	SI	2	YES	YES
103	SO	2	YES	YES
104	ST	2	NO	YES
105	TA	2	YES	YES
106	TE	2	YES	YES
107	TI	2	YES	YES
108	TO	2	YES	YES
109	UG	3	NO	YES
110	UH	5	YES	YES
111	UM	4	YES	YES
112	UN	2	YES	YES
113	UP	4	YES	YES
114	UR	2	NO	YES
115	US	2	YES	YES
116	UT	2	YES	YES
117	WE	5	YES	YES
118	WO	5	YES	YES
119	XI	9	YES	YES
120	XU	9	YES	YES
121	YA	5	YES	YES
122	YE	5	YES	YES
123	YO	5	YES	YES
124	YU	5	NO	YES
125	ZA	11	YES	YES
126	ZE	11	NO	YES
127	ZO	11	NO	YES

Letter frequencies for 2LWs

By performing an analysis of each of Scrabble’s 127 2LWs, we are able to see the most and least-common letters at the beginning of words, end of words and overall.

Letter	First letter	%	Last letter	%	Total	%
A	16	12.60%	15	11.81%	31	12.20%
B	5	3.94%	2	1.57%	7	2.76%
C	1	0.79%	0	0.00%	1	0.39%
D	4	3.15%	4	3.15%	8	3.15%
E	13	10.24%	15	11.81%	28	11.02%
F	3	2.36%	3	2.36%	6	2.36%
G	3	2.36%	2	1.57%	5	1.97%
H	5	3.94%	6	4.72%	11	4.33%
I	6	4.72%	14	11.02%	20	7.87%
J	2	1.57%	0	0.00%	2	0.79%
K	4	3.15%	1	0.79%	5	1.97%
L	3	2.36%	2	1.57%	5	1.97%
M	7	5.51%	6	4.72%	13	5.12%
N	5	3.94%	5	3.94%	10	3.94%
O	17	13.39%	17	13.39%	34	13.39%
P	4	3.15%	2	1.57%	6	2.36%
Q	1	0.79%	0	0.00%	1	0.39%
R	1	0.79%	4	3.15%	5	1.97%
S	4	3.15%	5	3.94%	9	3.54%
T	4	3.15%	5	3.94%	9	3.54%
U	8	6.30%	6	4.72%	14	5.51%
V	0	0.00%	0	0.00%	0	0.00%
W	2	1.57%	3	2.36%	5	1.97%
X	2	1.57%	3	2.36%	5	1.97%
Y	4	3.15%	7	5.51%	11	4.33%
Z	3	2.36%	0	0.00%	3	1.18%

A graph is given below to show the most-common letters in Scrabble 2LWs:

A graph is given below to show the least-common letters in Scrabble 2LWs: