Words With Friends tile values: complete letter-by-letter breakdown
If you've played both Scrabble and Words With Friends, you've probably noticed something a little disorienting: the same letters don't always score the same points. Words With Friends uses its own tile value system, and knowing it cold is one of the simplest ways to immediately improve your scoring decisions. Here is the complete breakdown, letter by letter.
Why the values differ from Scrabble
Scrabble's letter values were set decades ago based on English letter frequency at the time. Words With Friends was built later, as a mobile-first game, and its designers recalibrated some of those values to fit their own gameplay balance. The result: a handful of letters that are "cheap" in Scrabble are worth more in Words With Friends, and a few "expensive" Scrabble letters are slightly cheaper here. If you carry your Scrabble instincts straight into Words With Friends without checking, you'll occasionally undervalue or overvalue a play. For the other side of the comparison, see our Scrabble scoring guide and the full Words With Friends vs Scrabble breakdown.
The full tile value list
Here is every letter in Words With Friends, grouped by point value from cheapest to most expensive.
| Points | Letters |
|---|---|
| 1 point | A, E, I, O |
| 2 points | D, L, N, R, S, T, U |
| 3 points | G, H, Y |
| 4 points | B, C, F, M, P, W |
| 5 points | K, V |
| 8 points | J, X |
| 10 points | Q, Z |
| 0 points | Blank (wild tile) |
Every letter A–Z, at a glance
Prefer to look up a single letter? Here is the same data sorted alphabetically.
| Letter | Points | Letter | Points |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | 1 | N | 2 |
| B | 4 | O | 1 |
| C | 4 | P | 4 |
| D | 2 | Q | 10 |
| E | 1 | R | 2 |
| F | 4 | S | 2 |
| G | 3 | T | 2 |
| H | 3 | U | 2 |
| I | 1 | V | 5 |
| J | 8 | W | 4 |
| K | 5 | X | 8 |
| L | 2 | Y | 3 |
| M | 4 | Z | 10 |
The key letters that differ from Scrabble
You don't need to memorize all 26 differences — most letters land in roughly the same place. The ones worth committing to memory are the everyday letters that quietly score more in Words With Friends than your Scrabble muscle memory expects.
| Letter | Words With Friends | Scrabble |
|---|---|---|
| D | 2 | 2 |
| L | 2 | 1 |
| N | 2 | 1 |
| R | 2 | 1 |
| S | 2 | 1 |
| T | 2 | 1 |
| U | 2 | 1 |
The headline change: in Scrabble, common consonants like L, N, R, S and T are worth just 1 point, and U is a "cheap" 1-point vowel. In Words With Friends they're all worth 2. (D is worth 2 in both games, but it sits with this group because most players lump these everyday tiles together.) Because so many ordinary words are built from exactly these letters, plain, unglamorous words tend to score a little higher by default in Words With Friends than the same word would in Scrabble.
Strategy: how the values should change your play
Don't assume a word "feels" high-value just because it would be in Scrabble. A word loaded with common letters like D, N, R, S and T scores noticeably better in Words With Friends than the same word would in Scrabble, simply because those letters carry more weight here. Standard, unglamorous words are often a better default play in Words With Friends than players coming from Scrabble expect.
Reconsider how you treat U. In Scrabble, U is a "cheap" vowel you don't think twice about. In Words With Friends, it's worth the same as your common consonants. If you're sitting on a U and a handful of premium-square opportunities, give it a slightly closer look than you would in Scrabble.
Save your big-tile plays for multiplier squares. Q, Z, J and X are still your most valuable tiles by far. Just like in Scrabble, the real strategy is patience: don't dump a Z onto a plain square out of convenience when a Double or Triple Word Score opportunity might be one or two turns away.
The blank tile
The blank is worth 0 points, exactly as in Scrabble. It's a wild tile: you assign it any letter you need to complete a word, but it always scores zero for itself — even when it's standing in for a Q or a Z. Because it costs you nothing in points but unlocks words you couldn't otherwise play, the blank is one of the most powerful tiles on your rack. The classic advice applies: hold it for a big play (a bingo using all your tiles, or a high-multiplier word) rather than spending it to scrape out a few extra points on an ordinary turn.
A quick reference you can memorize
If you only remember one grouping, remember this: most of your everyday letters — D, L, N, R, S, T and U — are worth 2 in Words With Friends, not 1. That single fact is the biggest mental adjustment for anyone coming over from Scrabble, and it changes how you should weigh "boring" words against flashier ones. Everything above 2 points is rarer and roughly tracks how hard the letter is to use: 3 for G, H and Y; 4 for the heavier consonants; 5 for K and V; 8 for J and X; and 10 for the showpiece tiles Q and Z.
The bottom line
Words With Friends rewards players who know its specific tile values rather than relying on Scrabble muscle memory. Once the differences above feel natural — especially the 2-point everyday letters and the slightly pricier U — you'll start making sharper decisions about which words are actually worth more, not just which ones look more impressive on the board.