Words with Friends is a word game inspired by Scrabble, following the same general rules and having a very similar if not the same type of gameplay. The most striking difference between the two is the Words with Friends letter values.
Just like Scrabble, this game uses the frequency of the letters in the English language to define their value, but because it uses more tiles (another difference) their value had to be readjusted.
Letter values in Words with Friends
In Words with Friends, most tiles are yield the same points as in Scrabble, but there are some more valuable. Due to this, there is no clear match between how much a word is worth in both games. Even if most of them share the same score, some are worth more and others are less. When using an unscrambler, pay attention to use a Words with Friends Cheat to see the words with the right scores.
To calculate your score you need to have these letter values in mind:
A - 1 point
B - 4 points
C - 4 points
D - 2 points
E - 1 point
F - 4 points
G - 3 points
H - 3 points
I - 1 point
J - 10 points
K - 5 points
L - 2 points
M - 4 points
N - 2 points
O - 1 point
P - 4 points
Q - 10 points
R - 1 point
S - 1 point
T - 1 point
U - 2 points
V - 5 points
W - 4 points
X - 8 points
Y - 3 points
Z - 10 points
Note that Words with Friends letter values is generally equivalent to or higher than those in Scrabble. The only exception is the letter H which is worth one point less in WWF.
How many tiles are there in Words with Friends?
Words with Friends uses a total of 104 tiles - 102 letter tiles plus 2 white tiles. Scrabble, on the other hand, uses a total of 100 tiles, including the two white ones.
This means that not only are the tile values different between the two, the distribution of the letters is also distinct.
In WWF, the letter tiles are distributed as follows:
A - 9 tiles
B - 2 tiles
C - 2 tiles
D - 5 tiles
E - 12 tiles
F - 2 tiles
G - 3 tiles
H - 4 tiles
I - 8 tiles
J - 1 tile
K - 1 tile
L - 4 tiles
M - 2 tiles
N - 5 tiles
O - 8 tiles
P - 2 tiles
Q - 1 tile
R - 6 tiles
S - 5 tiles
T - 7 tiles
U - 4 tiles
V - 2 tiles
W - 2 tiles
X - 1 tile
Y - 2 tiles
Z - 1 tile
Do I need to know the differences between the tile values in Words with Friends and Scrabble?
No, unless you want to. You must know the letter values and the number of tiles available in the game you are playing. If you are playing Words with Friends, then you must know the information above. And if you are playing Scrabble, then you need to know and use the values set for that game.
Both games are so similar that they are often used as a point of reference to each other. Besides, they share many players who often get confused trying to remember how much a tile is worth in the game they are playing at that moment.
If you only play Words with Friends because it has an online feature that lets you play anytime and anywhere with players from all over the world, then you can simply ignore the comparison with Scrabble and focus solely on the information that pertains to you.
