There's a particular dread every Scrabble player knows: you draw the Q, scan your rack, find no U, and your stomach drops. The Q tile is worth 10 points — the highest value in the game — but without a U, most players treat it as dead weight. It doesn't have to be that way.
English words almost universally follow the QU pattern. The Scrabble dictionary includes words borrowed from Arabic, Hebrew, and other languages where Q takes different consonants. These are the words you need.
| Word | Points | Meaning | Dictionary |
|---|---|---|---|
| QI | 11 | Vital life force (Chinese philosophy) | TWL + SOWPODS |
| QOPH | 18 | Hebrew letter | TWL + SOWPODS |
| QANAT | 15 | Ancient Persian irrigation tunnel | TWL + SOWPODS |
| QAID | 14 | A Muslim judge or leader | TWL + SOWPODS |
| TRANQ | 14 | Short for tranquilizer | TWL + SOWPODS |
| QINTAR | 15 | Albanian unit of currency | TWL + SOWPODS |
| QIGONG | 17 | Chinese exercise and meditation system | TWL + SOWPODS |
| TSADDIQ | 21 | Jewish leader or saint | SOWPODS only |
QI is two letters, uses Q and I, and is worth 11 points at face value. On a Double Letter Score for the Q it's 21 points; on a Double Word Score it's 22. As a two-letter word it's incredibly versatile for parallel plays. If you learn nothing else from this article, learn QI.
TRANQ is the second-most useful word because it doesn't look like a Q-without-U word. Players see it as normal English (shorthand for tranquilizer) and rarely challenge it. At 14 base points, on a Triple Word Score you're looking at 42 points — plus parallel bonuses.
Sometimes the board just won't cooperate. In that case, exchanging the Q is a legitimate strategy — you lose your turn but improve your rack. Don't hold a Q for three turns hoping for a miracle. Use the ScrambleWiz Word Unscrambler to practice finding Q words in different rack combinations before your next game.
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