This page contains some Scrabble related notes, not necessarily cited, to use as a reference elsewhere.

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Scrabble associations

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Note: I haven't bothered listing groups that only have a Facebook page.

International

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National

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English language

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French language

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Spanish language

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Other languages

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North American rules, conventions and terminology comparison

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Note: By "North American", I mean what is done on sets produced by Hasbro (who own the Scrabble trademark in the USA and Canada), tournament rules set by NASPA, or occasionally elsewhere in the world that choose to use those rules.

  • In NA, the lexicon only includes American English words. Elsewhere both American and non-American English variants are acceptable, thus the NASPA word list is a subset of the CSW list.
  • In NA, the "Double Challenge" rule is used, where a failed challenger misses a move. Elsewhere the "Single Challenge" (sometimes called a "Free Challenge") rule is used, where the challenger never misses a move.
  • In NA, a 7 letter word, for which the player is awarded 50 extra points, is called a "Bingo", elsewhere it is a "Bonus".
  • In NA, columns are labelled with letters and rows are labelled with numbers, elsewhere it's the other way around.

It's mentioned on a couple of pages that English-language Scrabble in Israel and Thailand use NASPA rules, but I've been unable to find a source for that other than Wikipedia.

Scrabble languages

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Language Local name Word list Alphabet (Script) Number
of tiles
Official?
Afrikaans Krabbel Afrikaans (Latin) 102   Yes[1]
Anglo-Saxon An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary[2] Old English (Latin) 101   No
Arabic Arabic (Arabic) 100   Yes[1]
Armenian Armenian 146   No
Bambara (Latin) 106   No
Basque Basque (Latin) 100   No
Bicolano Abakada (Latin) 102   No
Breton Skrabell Breton (Latin) 100   No
Bulgarian Bulgarian (Cyrillic) 102   Yes[1]
Catalan Catalan (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Croatian Gaj's Latin (Latin) 103   Yes[1]
Czech Czech (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Dakelh (Latin) 100   No
Dakota Dakota (Latin) 100   No
Danish Retskrivningsordbogen[3][4][5] Danish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Dutch Dutch (Latin) 102   Yes[1]
English CSW (Worldwide), NWL (North America) English (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Esperanto Esperanto (Latin) 100   No
Estonian Estonian (Latin) 102   No
Faroese Krossorðaspæl Faroese (Latin) 102   No
Finnish Finnish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
French L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble French (Latin) 102   Yes[1]
Galician (Latin) 100   No
German German (Latin) 102   Yes[1]
Greek Greek 104   Yes[1]
Gwichʼin Northern Athabaskan (Latin) 200   No
Haitian Creole Haitian Creole (Latin) 100   No
Hausa Boko (Latin) 114   No
Hawaiian Hawaiian (Latin) 100   No
Hebrew נא‎-שבץ‎ Hebrew 100   Yes[1]
Hungarian Hungarian (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Icelandic Icelandic (Latin) 104   Yes[1]
Igbo Pan-Nigerian (Latin) 134   No
Indonesian Malay (Latin) 100   No
IPA English IPA (Latin) 106   No
Irish Scrabble as Gaeilge Irish (Latin) 100   Yes[6]
Italian Zingarelli[7] Italian (Latin) 120   Yes[1]
Japanese Hiragana Hiragana (Japanese) 100   No
Japanese Romaji Rōmaji (Latin) 102   No
Klingon Klingon 100   No
Latin Latin alphabet (Latin) 100   No
Latvian Latvian (Latin) 104   No
L33t (Latin) 103   No
Lithuanian Lithuanian (Latin) 104   No
Lojban Lojban (Latin) 160   No
Malagasy Malagasy (Latin) 102   No
Malaysian Malay (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Māori Scramble/Kuputupu (Latin) 225   No
Math Arabic numerals 103   No
Norwegian Tanums store rettskrivningsordbok[8] Norwegian (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Nuxalk Nuxalk (Latin) 212   No
Persian Persian (Arabic)   No
Pinyin PinyinPal Pinyin (Latin) 100   No
Polish Oficjalny Słownik Polskiego Scrabblisty [pl] Polish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Portuguese Portuguese (Latin) 120   Yes[1]
Romanian Lista Oficială de Cuvinte[9][10] Romanian (Latin) 100   No
Russian Russian (Cyrillic) 104   Yes[1]
Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (Latin) 104   No
Cyrillic Serbian Serbian Cyrillic (Cyrillic) 102   No
Slovak Slovak (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Slovenian Slovenian (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Spanish Escarbar Lexicón FISE 2[11] Spanish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Swedish Svenska Akademiens ordlista[12] Swedish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Tswana (Latin) 104   No
Turkish Turkish (Latin) 100   Yes[1]
Tuvan Cyrillic 125   No
Ukrainian Ukrainian (Cyrillic) 104   No
Welsh Scrabble yn Gymraeg Welsh (Latin) 105   Yes[13]
Zhuyin Bopomofo 100   No
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa "Scrabble distribution". www.gtoal.com. J. W. Spear & Sons.
  2. ^ "The Old English Scrabble Project". This Wicked Day. 21 September 2010.
  3. ^ "Ordlister". Dansk scrabbleforening (in Danish). 9 October 2014.
  4. ^ "Scrabbleregler" (PDF).
  5. ^ "Wordfeud reaches agreement with Dansk Sprognævn to use "Retskrivningsordbogen"". Wordfeud Dev Blog. 16 January 2012.
  6. ^ Siggins, Lorna. "Word play as Gaeilge: Irish Scrabble now available". The Irish Times.
  7. ^ "Scrabble - parole di 2 e 3 lettere". digilander.libero.it.
  8. ^ "Ordlister |". Norsk Scrabbleforbund (in Norwegian Bokmål).
  9. ^ "Regulamente, Hotarari, Legislatie sportiva - Federatia Româna de Scrabble". www.scrabblero.ro.
  10. ^ "dexonline". dexonline.ro.
  11. ^ "Léxico | FILE". fisescrabble.org.
  12. ^ "Swedish Scrabble: Summary in English". cl.lingfil.uu.se.
  13. ^ "Welsh is the new word in Scrabble". BBC News. 4 October 2005.

Published lexica/dictionaries

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Type Publisher Edition Title Year ISBN Binding Max
Word
Length
With
Definitions?
Note
CSW/SOWPODS HarperCollins CSW19 Collins Official Scrabble Words 2020 9780008320133 Paperback
Collins Scrabble Dictionary Gem Edition 2020 9780008320188 Paperback 7   No Gem
Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2019 9780008320140 Paperback 9   Yes
Collins Ultimate Scrabble Dictionary and Word List 2019 9780008320287 Hardback 15 Up to 9 letters
Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2019 9780008320157 Hardback 9   Yes
Collins Official Scrabble Words 2019 9780008320126 Hardback
CSW15 Collins Scrabble Dictionary Gem Edition 2017 9780007589104 Paperback 7   No Gem
Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2016 9780007589128 Paperback 8   Yes
CSW12 Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2013 9780007537952 Paperback 9   Yes
Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary 2012 9780007538126 Paperback 7   No Gem
Collins Official Scrabble Lists 2011 9780007425631 Paperback
Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2011 9780007436064 Paperback 9   Yes
Collins Official Scrabble Words 2011 9780007425624 Hardback
CSW07 Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2010 9780007331987 Paperback
Collins Deluxe Scrabble Dictionary 2009 9780007333493 Hardback   Yes Deluxe
Collins Pocket Scrabble Dictionary 2008 9780007809981 Hardback   No Pocket
Collins Scrabble Words 2006 9780007233151 Paperback
Collins Scrabble Dictionary 2006 9780007213597 Paperback 9   Yes
Collins Gem Scrabble Dictionary 2005 9780007191567 Paperback   Yes Gem
? Collins Official Scrabble Words 2004 9780007190195 Hardback
? Collins Scrabble Tournament & Club Word List 2007 9780007258840 Paperback
NWL/TWL NASPA 4 NASPA Word List 15   No
Merriam-Webster 3.1 Official Tournament and Club Word List - 2016 Edition 2016 9780877797449 Paperback   No
3 Official Tournament and Club Word List - 2014 Edition 2014 ? Paperback   No
2 NSA Official Tournament and Club Word List 2005 9780877796350 Paperback   No
1 1997 9780877796176 Paperback   No
OSPD Merriam-Webster 6 The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary 2018 9780877795964 Paperback 8   Yes Mass Market
2018 9780877796770 Paperback   Yes Trade
2018 9780877794226 Hardback   Yes
5 2014 9780877798224 Paperback   Yes
2014 9780877796497 Paperback   Yes Large Print
2014 9780877796664 Paperback   Yes Platinum
2014 9780606369206 Hardback   Yes
4 2010 9780877796657 Paperback   Yes Platinum
2008 9780756639990 Hardback   Yes Illustrated
2005 9780877799290 Paperback   Yes Mass Market
2005 9780877794202 Hardback   Yes
? 2002 9781865153827 Paperback   Yes Large Print
3 1998 9780877796237 Paperback   Yes Large Print
1996 9780877799153 Paperback   Yes Mass Market
1995 9780877792208 Hardback   Yes
2 1993 9780877799085 Paperback   Yes Mass Market
1991 9780877791201 Hardback   Yes
1 1982 9780671459369 Paperback   Yes
1978 9780671831462 Paperback   Yes
1978 9780877790204 Hardback   Yes
? ? 9780877796459 Paperback   Yes Onyx
ODS Éditions Larousse 8 L'Officiel du jeu Scrabble 2020 9782035991157 Hardback
2019 9782035962461 Hardback
? 2017 9782035954176 Hardback 70th
? 2017 9780320088957 Hardback
7 2015 9782035885326 Hardback
2011 9782035863492 Hardback
2010 9782035854414 Hardback
2007 9782035822208 Hardback
2006 9782035602312 Hardback
2003 9782033402204 Hardback
1998 9782033402266 Paperback
1998 9782033402259 Hardback
Notes and Links
  • Collins edition comparison graphic
  • NASPA's Wiki
  • Glossary and History
  • Books with titles ending in "Words" tend to go up to 15 letters with no definitions, but books with titles ending in "Dictionary" tend to have short definitions and go up to about 7 to 9 letters.
  • Pocket/Gem versions never have definitions, apart from the Collins 2005 edition apparently.
  • I have no idea how Platinum, Onyx,or Illustrated editions differ.
  • Collins and Merriam-Webster have published many companion books, which include advice and guides, which may include word lists or sub-lists, and are sold alongside the main word list books. These are not included here.
  • Before official Scrabble-specific lists started to be published, several pre-existing dictionaries were used, such as Chambers, Merriam-Webster's Collegiate, Funk & Wagnalls, and Petit Larousse. These are not included here.