The Answer to the “Ew” Question
Good news! “Ew” is a valid word in Scrabble. It's right there in the official Scrabble dictionary. You can play it in Words With Friends too.
In both games, “ew” is worth a modest but acceptable five points. Of course, a smaller word’s point value is not usually its main appeal. Instead, it’s all about the quick and easy options to play them at almost any time.
Great Plays to Make Your Opponent Say “Ew”
“Ew” uses the ever-prevalent E tile and the high-value but less-used W tile. Scrabble uses 12 E tiles and two W tiles. This means the word has an intrinsic level of balance to its utility. It’s a small and easy-to-play word, but you need to have a W tile on your rack or on the board. When you do have one, though, there’s a lot you can do with it.
Grab quick points: As a two-letter word, “ew” can fit almost anywhere on the game board. Put the word down when you need to snag some easy points to put yourself in the lead.
Block your opponent’s route: Do you think your opponent is getting ready to play a longer word next to an existing word on the board for some major points? Hook an E or a W to that word first to create “ew.” If you play it right, you’ll use one of the squares they needed and ruin their strategy.
Steal a score multiplier: You can steal a spot on the board to block an opponent’s word, but you can also steal a spot for the extra points it gives. These are the score multiplier squares that you need if you want to win any Scrabble game. Yes, playing “ew” on those squares won’t earn you a ton of points, but they will make sure that the bonuses go to you instead of your opponent.
Refresh your tile rack: Sometimes, you want to refresh your tile rack, but you don’t want to waste a turn swapping your tiles for new ones. In this situation, your best option is to play some shorter words. This is where “ew” comes in handy. If you have a W on your rack, the chances are high that you also have an E either on the board or your rack to pair with it.
Other “Ew” Words to Play
Obviously, “ew” can also be part of larger words from the start instead of being just a hook. That’s one of the most important skills to have when you’re a Scrabble player. You need to know what all of your options are at all times. As you can probably imagine, words with “ew” are more than plentiful. A quick check of our Scrabble cheat verifies that.
Ew Words With One Extra Letter
The first option to look for is to add one letter to “ew” to create a new word. There are more than enough words to make using this method. You just need to train your brain to look for them.
Dew: Scrabble score: 7 | Words With Friends score: 7
Ewe: Scrabble score: 6 | Words With Friends score: 6
Few: Scrabble score: 9 | Words With Friends score: 9
Sew: Scrabble score: 6 | Words With Friends score: 6
The Longer Short Words With Ew
Your next step is to look for the longer words to play. “Ew” often comes at the end of shorter words. But as the words get longer, it becomes common to find “ew” nestled in the middle.
Blew: Scrabble score: 9 | Words With Friends score: 11
Chew: Scrabble score: 12 | Words With Friends score: 12
Knew: Scrabble score: 11 | Words With Friends score: 12
Spew: Scrabble score: 9 | Words With Friends score: 10
Dewax: Scrabble score: 16 | Words With Friends score: 16
Jewel: Scrabble score: 15 | Words With Friends score: 18
Newer: Scrabble score: 8 | Words With Friends score: 9
Beware: Scrabble score: 11 | Words With Friends score: 12
Deworm: Scrabble score: 12 | Words With Friends score: 13
Newbie: Scrabble score: 11 | Words With Friends score: 13
Rewarm: Scrabble score: 11 | Words With Friends score: 12
Shrewd: Scrabble score: 13 | Words With Friends score: 12
Creating “Ew” Words From “Ew” Words
To play some really long “ew” words, what you need to do is create longer versions of shorter words. You can also bring two words together to create the letter pairing. Whichever method you use, the end result will be a lot of points added to your score.
Bewilder: “Bewilder” is already a decent “ew” word, but you can extend it even further. A few valuable examples are “bewildered,” “bewildering” and “bewilderment.”
Blame: “Blame” can’t help you here, but if you tack “worthiness” to the end of it, you end up with the impressive 15-letter word “blameworthiness.”
News: “News” is useful because it can turn into a plethora of new words. “Newsmagazine,” “newspaper,” “newsstand,” “newsman” and “newswoman” are just some of the longer words with NEWS in them.
Type: “Type” has plenty of options for creating new words. This is because “type” can appear at the start or the end of a word. Examples of words that start with “type” include “typewriter,” “typecast” and “typeface.” Examples of words that end with “type” are “archetype,” genotype” and “stereotype.”
Stew: “Stew” is a similar case to “news.” It creates all sorts of useful words by combining it with other words and letter groups. Examples would be “stewable,” “steward,” “stewardess,” “stewpan” and “stewy.”
Commit “Ew” and Other Words to Memory
Now you know the answer to the burning question “is ew a Scrabble word?” Make sure you don’t forget it! Of course, not forgetting words is the goal for any Scrabble player. You’ll never get the lead on your opponent if you miss one golden opportunity after another because you couldn’t think of a word to play. To make sure that doesn’t happen, try training with Aerolith. Aerolith is a website that trains word game lovers to memorize words and master their Scrabble skills. Or just use our word finder to find the best plays.
Zac Pricener has been a content creator for the past eight years. He’s a bit of an all-around nerd, and he has a bad habit of working movie and TV show references into conversations whenever possible.
