How to play Scrabble: the full rules

Everything you need to settle an argument at the table, in plain English. These are the standard rules of the board game, with notes where club and tournament play differ.

What is in the box

A standard English Scrabble set contains a 15 by 15 board, 100 letter tiles, a rack for each player and a bag to draw from.

A board of 15 by 15 squares, with coloured premium squares and a star in the centre.
100 letter tiles: 98 letters and 2 blanks. Each letter shows its point value. See tile values and distribution.
A tile rack for each player, and a bag to draw tiles from.

The game is for two to four players. You also need something to keep score with, such as the score sheet on this site.

The aim of the game

The aim is to finish with the highest score by building words on the board, crossword-style. Each word scores the value of its letters, boosted by any premium squares it covers. When the game ends, the player with the highest total wins.

Setting up

To set up, put all the tiles in the bag, draw to see who goes first, then deal each player seven tiles.

Put all the tiles in the bag and shake them up.
Each player draws one tile. The player whose letter is closest to A goes first, and a blank beats any letter. Return these tiles to the bag and mix again.
Each player draws seven tiles and places them on their rack, hidden from the other players.
Play passes to the left (clockwise) after each turn.

Your turn: three options

On each turn you do exactly one of three things: play a word, exchange tiles or pass.

Play a word. Place tiles on the board, announce your score, and draw back up to seven tiles.
Exchange tiles. Swap some or all of your tiles for new ones from the bag. This uses your turn and scores nothing.
Pass. Do nothing and score nothing.

Placing tiles

Place all your tiles in one straight line, across or down, so that every word you form is valid and the play connects to tiles already on the board.

The first word must have at least two letters and must cover the centre star. The star is a double-word square, so the first word always scores double.
Every later word must connect to tiles already on the board, by joining onto an existing word or crossing through it.
All the tiles you place in one turn go in a single straight line, either across or down. They must form one continuous word along that line. Gaps are allowed only where tiles already on the board fill them.
Words read left to right or top to bottom. Diagonal and backwards words do not count.
Every new word you form must be valid, including short words made where your tiles touch neighbours. All of them score. See scoring cross-words.
Once a word has been played and scored, its tiles stay where they are for the rest of the game.
After playing, draw as many tiles as you used, so you have seven again (or as many as remain in the bag).

Premium squares

Premium squares multiply the value of a single letter or of a whole word, and a standard board has 61 of them: 24 double letter, 12 triple letter, 17 double word (including the centre star) and 8 triple word.

Square	On the board	Effect
Double letter	24	Doubles the tile placed on it
Triple letter	12	Triples the tile placed on it
Double word (including the centre star)	17	Doubles the whole word
Triple word	8	Triples the whole word

Apply letter premiums first, then word premiums.
A premium counts only on the turn a tile is first placed on it. After that it is an ordinary square.
A word covering two word premiums multiplies by both: two double-word squares make ×4, two triple-word squares make ×9.

The scoring guide works through examples of each.

Blank tiles

A blank tile can stand for any letter you choose, but it is always worth zero points, even on a letter premium. When you play it, say which letter it represents. It keeps that letter for the rest of the game. It still triggers a word premium if it sits on one.

Which words are allowed

Any word in the agreed dictionary is allowed, including plurals and other inflected forms. In the UK and most of the world, games use Collins Scrabble Words 2024 (CSW24), the word list used in tournaments outside North America. The United States and Canada use a different, shorter list. See sources and word lists for the options.

Not allowed:

Words that always start with a capital letter, such as names of people and places.
Abbreviations, unless the word list includes them as words in their own right.
Prefixes and suffixes standing alone.
Words that need a hyphen or an apostrophe.

Two-letter words are the most useful to learn. Start with the full list of 127 Collins two-letter words.

Challenges

Any player can challenge a word they think is not valid, as long as they do it before the next player starts their turn. Look the word up in the agreed dictionary or a word checker.

If the word is not valid, the player takes their tiles back, scores nothing, and loses the turn.
If the word is valid, the penalty depends on the rules you play by. Standard home rules: the challenger misses their next turn. Tournament rules vary. WESPA's rules list several standard options and name a 5-point penalty per word wrongly challenged as the preferred international norm. UK events run by the ABSP often have no penalty at all, with a 5-point penalty sometimes used in the top divisions of larger tournaments.

Agree which version you are using before the game starts. Many families play with no penalty at all and simply look words up.

Exchanging and passing

You can exchange tiles instead of playing a word, but only while at least seven tiles are left in the bag.

You may exchange tiles only while there are at least seven tiles left in the bag.
Put the tiles you are discarding face down, draw the same number of new tiles, then return the discards to the bag. Drawing first means you cannot get the same tiles straight back.
An exchange or a pass counts as a scoreless turn.

Ending the game

The game ends when the bag is empty and one player uses every tile on their rack, or when nobody can or wants to play. In detail, it ends when:

the bag is empty and one player has used all the tiles on their rack (they have "gone out"), or
no one can or wants to play. In club play this is usually defined as six scoreless turns in a row.

Then adjust the scores:

Every player subtracts the total value of the tiles left on their rack.
If a player went out, they add the combined value of everyone else's leftover tiles.

The highest score wins. Ties: the player with the higher score before the end-of-game adjustments wins. The scoring guide has a worked example, and the score sheet has rows built in for both adjustments.

Common house rules

House rules are agreed variations on the official rules, and they are fine as long as everyone agrees before the first tile is played. Popular variations:

Turn time limit. One to three minutes per turn keeps the game moving. The score sheet has a timer built in.
Open dictionary. Players may check whether a word is valid before playing it. This is good for learners and younger players.
No penalty for challenges. Look up any word without anyone losing a turn.
Team play. Two pairs share a rack each and discuss their moves.

More variations, including brand names, recycling blanks and how to score them: Scrabble house rules.

Sources and word lists

Which word list you use depends on where you play: Collins Scrabble Words 2024 (CSW24) in the UK and most of the world, and the NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023) in the United States and Canada.

Where or how you play	Word list	Reference book
UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and most international play, including WESPA tournaments	Collins Scrabble Words 2024 (CSW24)	Collins Scrabble Dictionary, for home use
US and Canada, club and tournament play	NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023)	Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD), Merriam-Webster
Family games anywhere	Any dictionary the table agrees on	Collins Scrabble Family Dictionary, or the OSPD in North America

Collins Scrabble Words 2024 (CSW24)

CSW24 is the word list used for Scrabble in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and most other countries outside the US and Canada. Collins published the 2024 edition on 15 August 2024. It adds around 1,800 new words to the previous list, bringing the total to more than 280,000, and it became the official list for WESPA tournament play on 1 January 2025. WESPA is the World English-Language Scrabble Players' Association. Mattel endorses it. For home use, the Collins Scrabble Dictionary lists every playable word from 2 to 9 letters. Check which edition you are buying, because older editions will not include the newest words.

NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023)

NWL2023 is the official word list for competitive play in the United States and Canada, in force since 29 February 2024. It replaced NWL2020. For family play in North America, the usual choice is the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary from Merriam-Webster. Its seventh edition came out in November 2022, and NWL2023 includes every word in it. An eighth edition followed on 28 September 2026 with over 200 new words; until NASPA adopts a new list, check those new words before using them in club play. The North American list is shorter than Collins, so some words you can play in the UK, such as CH and ZO, are not valid there. For the North American version of these rules, see Scrabble rules for the US (NWL2023).

Family games

For a family game you can use any dictionary the whole table agrees on, as long as you agree before the first tile is played. The Collins Scrabble Family Dictionary is a family-friendly option that leaves out vulgar words, and the free Collins online word checker has a similar family-friendly setting that is switched on by default. Check the edition before you buy, because it may not include every CSW24 word.

Official rules

Mattel makes Scrabble outside the US and Canada. Hasbro makes it in the US and Canada. Each publishes its own rule sheet, and the two are very close to the rules on this page. For tournament play, the ABSP (Association of British Scrabble Players) runs events in the UK, and WESPA publishes the international tournament rules, which cover things like challenge penalties and timing.

Where this information comes from

Common questions

How many tiles do you start with in Scrabble?

Each player starts with seven tiles. After every turn you draw back up to seven, for as long as there are tiles left in the bag.

How do you decide who goes first in Scrabble?

Each player draws one tile, and the letter closest to A goes first. A blank beats any letter. Put the tiles back, mix the bag, then everyone draws seven.

Can you play words diagonally or backwards in Scrabble?

No. Words must read left to right or top to bottom, and all the tiles you place in one turn must sit in a single row or column.

What happens if you challenge a word and it is valid?

It depends on the rules you play by. At home the challenger usually misses a turn, while in tournaments the penalty is often 5 points or nothing at all. See challenges.

When does a game of Scrabble end?

It ends when the bag is empty and one player has used every tile, or when nobody can or wants to play. Players then subtract their leftover tiles, and the player who went out adds them.

What is the official Scrabble dictionary?

There is no single one. Collins Scrabble Words 2024 is the official list in the UK and for international play, and NWL2023 is the official list in the US and Canada. See sources and word lists.

Last reviewed: October 2026.