Scrabble Tile Values And Letter Distribution

Originally, the creator of the Scrabble board game decided on letter counts and their values by performing a letter frequency analysis on the New York Times, alongside other sources. When creating words in Scrabble, as a general rule players should be aware that the most common letters in the alphabet are more frequent and have lower values, while uncommon alphabet letters are rare in the game and as such, worth more.

Scrabble tile values

As Scrabble is popular with players all over the world, WordsRated has gathered the tile values for multiple key language variations of the game. For each of the languages provided, blank letters are the only tiles that do not have a value associated with them.

English

• The total number of playable points is 187.
• “Q” and “Z” are the letters with the highest value, worth 10 points each.
• Other high scoring letters include “J” and “X”, each worth 8 points.
• 10 letters ( “A”, ”E”, “I”, “L”, ”N”, ”O”, “R”, “S”, ”T” and “U”) are worth 1 point each. 

French

• The total number of playable points is 197.
• “K”, “W”, “X”, “Y” and “Z” are the letters with the highest value, worth 10 points each.
• Other high scoring letters include “J” and “Q”, each worth 8 points.
• 7 letters (“J”, “K”, “Q”, “W”, “X”, “Y” and “Z”) are worth 1 point each.

German

• The total number of playable points is 202.
• “Q” and “Y” are the letters with the highest value, worth 10 points each. 
• “Ö” is worth 8 points while “Ä” and “Ü” are each worth 6 points. 
• 9 letters (“A”, “D”, “E”, “I”, “N”, “R”, “S”, “T” and “U”) are worth 1 point each.  

Portuguese

• The total number of playable points is 204.
• “X” and “Z” are the letters with the highest value, worth 8 points each.
• “Ç” is worth 3 points.
• 9 letters (“A”, “E”, “I”, “M”, “O”, “R”, “S”, “T” and “U”) are worth 1 point each.

Spanish (North America)

• The total number of playable points is 206.
• “Z” is the letter with the highest value, worth 10 points.
• “LL”, “Ñ” and “RR” are each worth 8 points.
• 10 letters (“A”, “E”, “O”, “S”, “I”, “U”, “N”, “L”, “R” and “T”) are worth 1 point each.

Tile values overview

Breakdowns for English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish (North American) versions of the game are given below in order to compare tile values side-by-side:

Letter	English	French	German	Portuguese	Spanish (North America)
(blank)	0	0	0	0	0
A	1	1	1	1	1
B	3	3	3	3	3
C	3	3	4	2	2
D	2	2	1	2	2
E	1	1	1	1	1
F	4	4	4	4	4
G	2	2	2	4	2
H	4	4	2	4	4
I	1	1	1	1	1
J	8	8	6	5	6
K	5	10	4	N/A	8
L	1	1	2	2	1
M	3	2	3	1	3
N	1	1	1	3	1
O	1	1	2	1	1
P	3	3	4	2	3
Q	10	8	10	6	8
R	1	1	1	1	1
S	1	1	1	1	1
T	1	1	1	1	1
U	1	1	1	1	1
V	4	4	6	4	4
W	4	10	3	N/A	8
X	8	10	8	8	8
Y	4	10	10	N/A	4
Z	10	10	3	8	10
Ä	N/A	N/A	6	N/A	N/A
Ç	N/A	N/A	N/A	3	N/A
LL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	8
Ñ	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	8
Ö	N/A	N/A	8	N/A	N/A
RR	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	8
Ü	N/A	N/A	6	N/A	N/A

Tile values for other Latin-based languages

Scrabble letter distribution

Furthermore, different versions of Scrabble have unique letter distributions. Each game version has a specific number of tiles as a result of using alternate alphabets that use each letter in unique ways.

English

• English Scrabble uses an alphabet of 26 characters, with 2 additional blank tiles.
• In total, there are 100 tiles in English language Scrabble.
• “E” is the most common vowel and letter, with 12 tiles.
• “N”, “R” and “T” are the most common consonants, with 6 tiles each.
• “J”, “K”, “Q”, “X” and “Z” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each.

French

• French Scrabble uses an alphabet of 26 characters, with 2 additional blank tiles.
• In total, there are 102 tiles in French language scrabble.
• “E” is the most common vowel and letter, with 15 tiles.
• “N”, “R”, “S” and “T” are the most common consonants, with 6 tiles each.
• “J”, “K”, “Q”, “W”, “X”, “Y” and “Z” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each.

German

• German Scrabble uses an alphabet of 29 characters, with 2 additional blank tiles.
• In total, there are 102 tiles in German language Scrabble.
• “E” is the most common vowel and letter, with 15 tiles.
• “N” is the most common consonant, with 9 tiles.
• “J”, “P”, “Q”, “V”, “W”, “X”, “Y”, “Z”, “Ä”, “Ö” and “Ü” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each. 

Portuguese

• Portuguese Scrabble uses an alphabet of 24 characters, with 3 additional blank tiles.
• In total, there are 120 tiles in Portuguese language Scrabble.
• “A” is the most common vowel and letter, with 14 tiles.
• “S” is the most common consonant, with 8 tiles.
• “Q”, “X” and “Z” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each.

Spanish (North America)

• Spanish Scrabble (North America) uses an alphabet of 29 characters, with 2 additional blank tiles.
• In total, there are 103 tiles in Spanish (North America) language Scrabble.
• “A” and “E” are the most common vowels and letters, with 11 tiles each.
• “S” is the most common consonant, with 7 tiles.
• “K”, “Q”, “W”, “X”, “Y”, “Z”, “LL”, “Ñ” and “RR” are the least common letters, with 1 tile each. 

Letter distribution overview

Breakdowns for English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish (North American) versions of the game are given below to compare letter distributions side-by-side:

Letter	English	French	German	Portuguese	Spanish (North America)
(blank)	2	2	2	3	2
A	9	9	5	14	11
B	2	2	2	3	3
C	2	2	2	4	4
D	4	3	4	5	4
E	12	15	15	11	11
F	2	2	2	2	2
G	3	2	3	2	2
H	2	2	4	2	2
I	9	8	6	10	6
J	1	1	1	2	2
K	1	1	2	N/A	1
L	4	5	3	5	4
M	2	3	4	6	3
N	6	6	9	4	5
O	8	6	3	10	8
P	2	2	1	4	2
Q	1	1	1	1	1
R	6	6	6	6	4
S	4	6	7	8	7
T	6	6	6	5	4
U	4	6	6	7	6
V	2	2	1	2	2
W	2	1	1	N/A	1
X	1	1	1	1	1
Y	2	1	1	N/A	1
Z	1	1	1	1	1
Ä	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A
Ç	N/A	N/A	N/A	2	N/A
LL	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1
Ñ	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1
Ö	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A
RR	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	1
Ü	N/A	N/A	1	N/A	N/A
Total tiles	100	102	102	120	103

Letter distribution for other Latin-based languages

Total tile count for official editions

While standard Scrabble sets in English are made up of 100 tiles (98 letter tiles plus 2 blank tiles), total tile counts vary across different versions of the game. For the official versions of the game provided, the minimum number of tiles is 100 and the maximum is 120. 

Edition*	Number of tiles
Afrikaans	104
Arabic	100
Bulgarian	102
Catalan	100
Croatian	103
Czech	100
Danish	100
Dutch	102
English	100
Estonian	102
Faroese	102
Finnish	101
French	102
German	102
Greek	104
Hebrew	100
Hungarian	100
Icelandic	104
Indonesian	100
Irish	100
Italian	120
Latin	100
Latvian	104
Lithuanian	104
Malagasy	102
Malay	100
Norwegian	100
Polish	100
Portuguese	120
Romanian	100
Russian	104
Slovak	100
Slovenian	100
Spanish (Castilian)	100
Spanish (North America)	103
Swedish	100
Turkish	100
Ukrainian	104
Welsh	105

If you are looking to find the best possible word for your next Scrabble turn, it’s time to check out WordsRated’s Word Finder. Simply enter the letters available to you from your rack alongside any board letters you wish to combine them with and click “search” to see a list of suggestions! We also have tools for similar word games including Words With Friends, Wordfeud and Scrabble GO.