Guides

Two-letter words this solver allows

A hook is usually two letters. You add one tile beside a letter already on the board, or you open with a two-letter word through the center star. If that pair is missing from the list below, the board solver rejects the play even when the longer word is fine.

This is the list inside Word Game Helper. Crossplay, Scrabble, and Words with Friends all use it here. It is not a separate official list for each game. NYT Crossplay's list is NWL2023 with New York Times edits, so a longer word can differ. The two-letter set below is what this page will accept. The about page explains the gap for longer words.

Six words added after TWL06

The base list is TWL06. Six two-letter words were not in it. They were added to the NASPA list later, and they are in this solver. DA, GI, PO, and TE were added in 2014. EW and OK were added in 2018. They are shown in blue. The other 101 words were already in TWL06. The full list is 107 words. Nothing in it starts with C or with V.

Blue words: DA, GI, PO, TE, EW, OK.

Pairs that look legal and are not in this list

These strings are not accepted: IO, EA, OU, EE, OO, JA, IX, and ZO. XI and XU are accepted, so an X hooked onto I has to read XI, with X before I, not IX. QI is the two-letter Q. JO is the only two-letter J. ZA is the only two-letter Z. AA, AE, OE, HM, and MM are accepted, which surprises people who are thinking of ordinary spelling rather than this list.

How a hook is scored

The new tile scores in every word it completes. A triple-letter X that makes TAX across and XI down counts the tripled X in both words. That example is on the scoring page. Tiles already on the board score face value only. Their old bonus squares do not fire again.

On an empty board, a two-letter opening is legal if one letter covers the center star. The star does not multiply the score in Crossplay. The opening rules are in how a turn works.

The 107 words