The 127 Two-Letter Collins Scrabble Words: ENABLE Comparison and Complete List

The two-letter word list is among the highest-leverage memorisation projects in Scrabble. The current Collins Scrabble Words lexicon (CSW) contains 127 valid two-letter words. This guide groups them by real-world usefulness and shows how each family earns its place on the board.

Scope note: every classification in this article is generated by set operations against two lists: the published Collins 127 two-letter list, and the free open ENABLE English word list that our finder ships. Nothing is hand-classified. Words that Collins accepts but ENABLE does not are flagged as Collins-only — you can play them at CSW events (and typically in Words With Friends' modern list), but our finder will mark them invalid.

The three groups, generated from set operations

shared        = Collins ∩ ENABLE
collins_only  = Collins − ENABLE
enable_only   = ENABLE − Collins

• Shared: 96 — legal in Collins, legal in ENABLE, marked valid by our finder.
• Collins-only: 31 — legal in CSW international play, rejected by our ENABLE-based finder.
• ENABLE-only: 0 — every ENABLE two-letter entry is also in Collins.

The 96 shared two-letter words (Collins ∩ ENABLE)

AA, AB, AD, AE, AG, AH, AI, AL, AM, AN, AR, AS, AT, AW, AX, AY, BA, BE, BI, BO, BY, DE, DO, ED, EF, EH, EL, EM, EN, ER, ES, ET, EX, FA, GO, HA, HE, HI, HM, HO, ID, IF, IN, IS, IT, JO, KA, LA, LI, LO, MA, ME, MI, MM, MO, MU, MY, NA, NE, NO, NU, OD, OE, OF, OH, OM, ON, OP, OR, OS, OW, OX, OY, PA, PE, PI, RE, SH, SI, SO, TA, TI, TO, UH, UM, UN, UP, US, UT, WE, WO, XI, XU, YA, YE, YO.

The 31 Collins-only two-letter words

CH, DA, DI, EA, EE, EW, FE, FY, GI, GU, IO, JA, KI, KO, KY, NY, OB, OI, OK, OO, OU, PO, QI, ST, TE, UG, UR, YU, ZA, ZE, ZO.

Notable high-value entries in this group include QI and ZA (11 points each on a bare square, often 30+ with a triple-letter square) and ZO — familiar from any Collins primer, but not accepted by our ENABLE-based finder.

Why two-letter words are worth more than they score

A two-letter word rarely scores well by itself. Their value comes from parallel plays: laying a longer word alongside an existing word so that every touching pair of tiles also spells a valid two-letter word going the other way. A five-letter play stacked next to an existing word can turn a 12-point turn into a 30-plus-point turn — provided every crossing is legal in the dictionary in force.

Worked example: a parallel play in action

Suppose the board contains TATER written horizontally. You lay ERASE immediately below it, aligning column by column. Five new vertical two-letter combos form, one per column:

Column	Top tile (TATER)	Bottom tile (ERASE)	Two-letter cross	Legal in Collins?	Legal in ENABLE?
1	T	E	TE	yes	no
2	A	R	AR	yes	yes
3	T	A	TA	yes	yes
4	E	S	ES	yes	yes
5	R	E	RE	yes	yes

All five crossings are valid in Collins, so the parallel play is legal at a CSW event. TE is not in ENABLE, so this exact placement is not legal under our finder — you would need to swap the vertical word for one whose top-column crossing is also in ENABLE.

Families by starting letter (all data-driven)

• A (16): AA, AB, AD, AE, AG, AH, AI, AL, AM, AN, AR, AS, AT, AW, AX, AY.
• B (5): BA, BE, BI, BO, BY.
• C (1): CH.
• D (4): DA, DE, DI, DO.
• E (13): EA, ED, EE, EF, EH, EL, EM, EN, ER, ES, ET, EW, EX.
• F (3): FA, FE, FY.
• G (3): GI, GO, GU.
• H (5): HA, HE, HI, HM, HO.
• I (6): ID, IF, IN, IO, IS, IT.
• J (2): JA, JO.
• K (4): KA, KI, KO, KY.
• L (3): LA, LI, LO.
• M (7): MA, ME, MI, MM, MO, MU, MY.
• N (5): NA, NE, NO, NU, NY.
• O (17): OB, OD, OE, OF, OH, OI, OK, OM, ON, OO, OP, OR, OS, OU, OW, OX, OY.
• P (4): PA, PE, PI, PO.
• Q (1): QI.
• R (1): RE.
• S (4): SH, SI, SO, ST.
• T (4): TA, TE, TI, TO.
• U (8): UG, UH, UM, UN, UP, UR, US, UT.
• W (2): WE, WO.
• X (2): XI, XU.
• Y (4): YA, YE, YO, YU.
• Z (3): ZA, ZE, ZO.

How to memorise the list

• Learn the shared 96 first — those are the ones our finder also accepts.
• Layer on the 31 Collins-only entries only if you play at CSW-rules events.
• Chant them by starting letter, not alphabetically as one big list.
• Print our master 2-letter list and stick it on the fridge.

Common mistakes

• Assuming a word legal in Collins is also legal in our ENABLE-based finder — the 31-word gap is exactly what trips people up.
• Playing a safe three-letter word when a two-letter word plus a parallel stack would score more.
• Ignoring two-letter words containing Q, Z, X or J — they are the biggest scoring opportunities on the whole list.

The complete Collins 127 (alphabetical)

AA, AB, AD, AE, AG, AH, AI, AL, AM, AN, AR, AS, AT, AW, AX, AY, BA, BE, BI, BO, BY, CH, DA, DE, DI, DO, EA, ED, EE, EF, EH, EL, EM, EN, ER, ES, ET, EW, EX, FA, FE, FY, GI, GO, GU, HA, HE, HI, HM, HO, ID, IF, IN, IO, IS, IT, JA, JO, KA, KI, KO, KY, LA, LI, LO, MA, ME, MI, MM, MO, MU, MY, NA, NE, NO, NU, NY, OB, OD, OE, OF, OH, OI, OK, OM, ON, OO, OP, OR, OS, OU, OW, OX, OY, PA, PE, PI, PO, QI, RE, SH, SI, SO, ST, TA, TE, TI, TO, UG, UH, UM, UN, UP, UR, US, UT, WE, WO, XI, XU, YA, YE, YO, YU, ZA, ZE, ZO.