One of the most popular word games worldwide, Words With Friends is a perfect blend of vocabulary, luck, and strategy. While the basic rules of the game are simple, if you have a competitive nature and hate losing to your friends, you should master all the tricks and nuances within the game but try not to cheat at Words with Friends.
Whether you’ve just decided to step into the WWF universe or you’re looking for some tips on how to level up your game, this guide has you covered. We’ll explain the basic rules of the game for beginners, and then get into the most effective strategies and tips to get to the next level.
Game setup, tile values, and letter distribution
- The game is played on a 15×15 square board, featuring 165 regular squares and 60 premium squares.
- Premium squares include: 24 double-letter squares, 16 triple-letter squares, 12 double-word squares, and 8 triple-word squares.
- There are 104 letter tiles in the game (A-Z and 2 blank tiles). Depending on the letter, their number can range from 1 to 13, and their value ranges from 0 to 10 points.
The following table contains the letter distribution and tile values in WWF:
| Letter | Number of tiles | Tile value |
| Blank | 2 | 0 |
| A | 9 | 1 |
| B | 2 | 4 |
| C | 2 | 4 |
| D | 5 | 2 |
| E | 13 | 1 |
| F | 2 | 4 |
| G | 3 | 3 |
| H | 4 | 3 |
| I | 8 | 1 |
| J | 1 | 10 |
| K | 1 | 5 |
| L | 4 | 2 |
| M | 2 | 4 |
| N | 5 | 2 |
| O | 8 | 1 |
| P | 2 | 4 |
| Q | 1 | 10 |
| R | 6 | 1 |
| S | 5 | 1 |
| T | 7 | 1 |
| U | 4 | 2 |
| V | 2 | 5 |
| W | 2 | 4 |
| X | 1 | 8 |
| Y | 2 | 3 |
| Z | 1 | 10 |
Gameplay
Words With Friends has simple, easy-to-understand rules:
- The game is played on a 15×15 square board, featuring 165 regular squares and 60 premium squares.
- There are 104 letter tiles in the game (A-Z and 2 blank tiles). Depending on the letter, their number can range from 1 to 13, and their value ranges from 0 to 10 points.
- Each player “draws” (is assigned) seven tiles to start the game, randomly selected from the tile bag.
- A player starts the game by forming a word from their tiles and placing it on the board, either horizontally or vertically.
- The first word has to contain the central square. With each next move, at least one letter of the newly formed word should be a part of some of the words already placed on the board.
- Players take turns in placing the letters on the board, or skipping their turn if they can’t form a word (or don’t want to for strategic reasons). Players are also allowed to use the power-up that the game offers (more on that later).
- Once one of the players has no tiles left in their rack, and there are no additional tiles to draw from the tile bag, or if three consecutive “scoreless” moves are played by one of the players, the game ends.
- A player with the highest score wins the game.
Scoring system
- Once players place a word on the board, the individual values of each letter forming it are added up, including the values of any additional words players might form during their move.
- On top of that, if newly formed words are placed on one (or more) premium squares, additional points are awarded accordingly.
- If a player uses all 7 tiles from their rack in one move, an additional 35 points are awarded.
- At the end of the game, any additional value of tiles remaining in the opposing player’s rack will be subtracted from their score and awarded to the opponent.
Power-ups
4 different power-ups are available in WWF, which can help players get the better of their opponents. Learning the different power-ups and the optimal times to use them is a surefire way to increase the final score. Only a limited number of power-ups are available, so they should be used sparingly.
- Tile Swap Plus: Potentially giving better move possibilities, the player is allowed to swap tiles with those in the tile bag without having to end the current turn.
- Hindsight: To help learn the game, the player can see a recommended alternative move that could have been played after the turn has already been played.
- Word Clue: For assistance when stuck, Word Clue highlights a specific board area and suggests tiles to use in that zone.
- Word Radar: The player will be able to see all of the possible places on the board that can be used on the current turn, making it easier to target bonus spaces.
Aside from the power-ups, players can look at the tile bag at any time, which can help plan future moves.
WWF tips and strategies to win every game
While on its surface it looks like an easy game to play, WWF requires serious planning, strategic thinking, and extensive vocabulary from anyone willing to dominate the game against any opponent.
If you’ve mastered the basic rules of the game but are struggling to get to that next level, we’ve prepared 12 most impactful tips you can use to outscore your opponents every time.
Beginner tips
Practice – play as often as possible
While it seems like an obvious thing, it’s impossible to overestimate the value of playing the game regularly. You can memorize all the great tips from this guide, but they have to be put to use on a regular basis before they become natural to you.
After hundreds of games under your belt, you’ll begin to recognize patterns, process the board more effectively, and add tons of new words to your vocabulary. Practice makes the player perfect.
Oh, and the tougher opponents you play down the line, the more experienced you become. Learning from better players than you is invaluable.
Try to start with a 5-letter word
With the board layout, WWF opens a possibility for you to earn some bonus points right off the bat. In each direction, the 5th square from the center contains a bonus field, doubling the value of a played word.
In order to earn that bonus, you should open the game by playing a word (at least) 5 letters long. At the very least, don’t open the possibility for your opponent to take advantage of it by building on your starting word.
There are over 12,000 five-letter words acceptable in WWF. You should learn as much as possible for the best opening move.
Place high-value letters on bonus spaces
While this may seem like another obvious tip, it’s important to understand that the WWF board layout favors playing shorter words with high value, as opposed to Scrabble, where the main strategy revolves around playing long words.
This is why making sure that those Js and Zs and Qs end up on TL, and ideally catch TW square (which is possible in WWF), can be a decisive factor in the final score.
Use hooks, prefixes, and suffixes
In WWF and Scrabble, “hooks” are single-letter moves where a letter is placed at the beginning or the end of the existing word on the board.
In most cases, they involve either adding S at the end of the word to form plurals or D or T at the end to form the past tense. Sometimes they can form new words, like adding B in front of the LOCK to form BLOCK.
Aside from hooks, you can capitalize on your vocabulary knowledge by extending the opponent’s words with prefixes and suffixes. Commonly used prefixes and suffixes can be an easy way to form high-scoring words when out of ideas, reusing standard letter points for words already scored. Example:
- An opponent played FILE (8 points, excluding bonuses)
- You can add a prefix PRO and form PROFILE (14 points)
- You go from 2 points per played letter to 4.67 points per played letter
Use power-ups
4 different power-ups are available in WWF, which can help players get the better of their opponents. Learning each of the different power-ups and the optimal time to use them is a sure-fire way to increase your score. Only a limited number of power-ups are available, so use them sparingly.
- Tile Swap Plus: Potentially giving better move possibilities, the player is allowed to swap tiles with those in the tile bag without having to end the current turn.
- Hindsight: To help learn the game, the player can see a recommended alternative move that could have been played after the turn has already been played.
- Word Clue: For assistance when stuck, Word Clue highlights a specific board area and suggests tiles to use in that zone.
- Word Radar: The player will be able to see all of the possible places on the board that can be used on the current turn, making it easier to target bonus spaces.
Advanced tips
Track the tile bag
If you want to be a pro WWF player, the first thing you need to master is keeping track of the letters left in the tile bag. Knowing which high-value letters are still remaining will have a big impact on your strategy for the remainder of the game.
For example, if you know that there are no high-scoring letters left, you can be less conservative with your moves and not worry a lot about exposing your opponent to premium squares. This may allow you to play longer words and get some extra points without risking much.
Similarly, if you know that your opponent still has a Z in their pocket, you will know that you need to keep the lane to TL or TW square closed, even if it means playing a shorter word and sacrificing a few points.
Be aware of the edges
To build on the previous tip, one of the major features of WWF, compared to Scrabble, is that the game offers players many more opportunities to “abuse” premium squares due to the board layout. Because the board allows high-scoring moves without playing long words, you should pay special attention to the areas of TL and TW squares.
WWF enables players to play a word that hits both the TW and TL premium squares. In fact, there are 2 of these possibilities on each of the 4 edges of the board. Playing a word that will end on or right at those edges, especially towards the middles, gives your opponent a chance to capitalize on these premium squares.
Have in mind that it’s possible to hit one TW along with two TL squares in Words With Friends by playing a 6-letter word in each of the board’s edges. So you are well advised to stay as far for it as possible by playing shorter words around that area.
Keep the balanced rack
In WWF, having a balanced rack isn’t about the possibility of scoring Bingo or long words in general. Instead, your rack should allow you access to parallel lanes (which happen a lot), and TL squares, which are ever-present on the board.
Having a balanced rack in WWF means having:
- 2–3 vowels
- 2–3 consonants
- At least one “hook” letter: S, R, D, E, N, T
- At most one high-value tile (J, Q, Z, or X)
This will allow you to hit those 2-4 letter words, use hooks, while not going for long words, and potentially expose your opponent to the edge of the board.
Play parallel words
If you don’t learn to play parallel words in WWF, you’re leaving a lot of points on the board. Again, the board layout works in favor of forming shorter words, and also the game is developed more horizontally than Scrabble (due to the position of TW squares).
Because of this, playing words on top of each other is more favored in the WWF. The slightly higher value of individual letters builds on this as well. So you should pay close attention to the possibility of parallel words, especially around TL squares.
A player not adept at recognizing and utilizing parallel play won’t even be able to reach a full scoring potential in the game.
Learn 2-letter words
If you want to master parallel play, your knowledge of 2-letter words has to be unquestionable. Luckily for you, there are only 127 such words, and not all of them are accepted in the game. Basically, we’re talking about just over 100 words to learn.
You should pay special attention to the ones containing the highest-scoring letters (Z, Q, J, X). With some strategic thinking and knowledge of 2-letter words, you can pick up a lot of points from the board with minimal resources.
Learn q without u words
Similar to 2-letter words, Q words without U can be super useful to take advantage of a 10-point letter with limited resources. There are 19 words, 7 letters long or shorter, that contain Q and not contain U, and you should try to memorize them.
As a starter, here are some of the shortest ones to learn: QAID, QATS, QOPH, and QAT.
Expand vocabulary
While obvious, this tip is advanced because very few players are devoted to learn new words every single day. We can’t emphasize how big a difference having 100,000 words in your pocket is compared to having 50,000.
Everything in WWF becomes easier when you know more words. So go ahead, read books, watch movies and TV shows, open a Words With Friends dictionary, and start exploring. Whatever you do, try to learn at least one new word every day.
FAQ
Which company owns Words With Friends?
Words With Friends was released in 2009 by Newtoy, a game developer owned by brothers Paul Bettner and David Bettner, along with their cousin Michael Chow.
At the end of 2010, Zynga acquired Newtoy and WWF, and the game quickly became one of the most-played mobile word games worldwide.
Which words are accepted in WWF?
There are around 173,000 words in the WWF, much fewer compared to Scrabble. The WWF dictionary is based on the Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon (ENABLE), with some additions from the game developers.
How to cheat in WWF?
While cheating is against the spirit of any game, getting some help, especially during the process of learning and mastering it, can be beneficial to players.
We advise you to never cheat when playing against your friends. However, if you’re practicing the game against computer bots and need some word suggestions, the best way to open all scoring possibilities is with our Words With Friends Solver.
By placing the letters from your rack, with optional filtering such as starting/ending letters or word length, our helper will generate all possible words you can play as your next move.