The WWF Dictionary: What's In and What's Out

A dictionary you can't read

Zynga has never published the Words With Friends word list. The best public reconstructions are derived from ENABLE, an open-source word list used by many Scrabble-adjacent tools, with WWF-specific additions and removals layered on top. This means every WWF player is playing with an approximate mental model of "what's legal" — and everyone gets caught out.

The good news: about 95% of words legal in any mainstream Scrabble dictionary (TWL, Collins, ENABLE) are also legal in WWF. The 5% that differ is where games are lost.

What's in WWF but not tournament Scrabble

WWF accepts several words that TWL (the North American tournament list) rejects:

• ZEN — legal in WWF, legal in Collins, but historically absent from TWL until recent editions.
• BLOG, BLOGS — legal in WWF for years before Scrabble adopted them.
• TEXTED — legal in WWF, added to Collins in 2014, added to TWL later.

The pattern: WWF is faster to adopt modern usage. If a word has been common English for 5+ years, WWF probably takes it.

Point-value examples:

• BLOG: B(4) + L(2) + O(1) + G(3) = 10 points in WWF.
• TEXTED: T(1) + E(1) + X(8) + T(1) + E(1) + D(2) = 14 points, and with the X on a TL it's a huge play.

What's in tournament Scrabble but not WWF

Going the other way, several Scrabble regulars are rejected by WWF:

• QI — actually legal in WWF (a common misconception), and pays Q(10) + I(1) = 11.
• ZA — legal in both, worth Z(8) + A(1) = 9 in WWF.
• Some obscure Collins-only words (DZO, XU, ZO) are not accepted by WWF.
• Certain regional spellings (COLOUR vs COLOR) — WWF accepts both, Collins accepts both, TWL only accepts American.

The two-letter word list

WWF's two-letter word list is smaller than Collins Scrabble Words. Approved WWF two-letter words include: 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, FE, GO, HA, HE, HI, HM, HO, ID, IF, IN, IS, IT, JO, KA, KI, LA, LI, LO, MA, ME, MI, MM, MO, MU, MY, NA, NE, NO, NU, OD, OE, OF, OH, OI, OK, OM, ON, OP, OR, OS, OW, OX, OY, PA, PE, PI, QI, RE, SH, SI, SO, TA, TI, TO, UH, UM, UN, UP, US, UT, WE, WO, XI, XU, YA, YE, YO, ZA.

Learn this list. Two-letter words are the backbone of high-scoring WWF plays because they set up parallel plays across TL/TW squares. Our pattern search lets you filter to 2-letter words instantly.

Why the list changes

Zynga periodically updates the WWF dictionary — adding modern coinages, removing offensive terms, adjusting to match player expectations. There's no public changelog, which is a genuine frustration for competitive players. The best current-state check is our WWF cheat tool, which is updated regularly against known-legal WWF word lists.

Practical playing rules

• If you're unsure whether a word is legal, try it — WWF just rejects invalid plays without penalty. This is a huge difference from Scrabble tournament play, where a challenged invalid word costs you a turn.
• Memorise the two-letter list before anything else. It's the highest ROI vocabulary investment in the game.
• Trust the WWF cheat tool over general Scrabble word lists. See why word lists differ for the mechanics.
• Watch for updated word additions after Zynga app updates — new words appear silently.

FAQs

Q: Is there an official WWF dictionary I can buy? A: No. Zynga has never released one. All third-party WWF word lists are reconstructions.

Q: Why does WWF accept "OK" but my Scrabble game doesn't? A: OK was added to Scrabble's TWL in 2014 and Collins in 2015. WWF has accepted it much longer. If your Scrabble app rejects OK, it's using an older dictionary.

Q: Do all WWF regions use the same word list? A: Mostly yes. Zynga uses a single global list with occasional regional variations for offensive-word filtering.

Comparing dictionary sizes

Approximate word counts across major Scrabble-adjacent lists:

• TWL (North American tournament): ~192,000 words.
• Collins Scrabble Words: ~280,000 words.
• ENABLE: ~172,000 words.
• WWF (estimated): ~180,000 words with proprietary additions.

WWF sits closest to ENABLE with additions for modern usage. It has fewer archaic and dialectal words than Collins, more than TWL for informal modern coinages.

The verification workflow

When you're unsure whether a play is legal in WWF:

1. Try it in-game — no penalty for invalid plays.
2. If rejected, check our WWF cheat tool with your rack.
3. If the word appears valid on other Scrabble tools but not WWF, it's likely Collins-only.

Common surprise rejections

Words WWF rejects that Scrabble players expect:

• ZO — legal in Collins, not in WWF.
• DZO — legal in Collins, not in WWF.
• CH — never legal (not a real word in any list, despite occasional player claims).
• NTH — legal in TWL and Collins, WWF acceptance varies.

Common surprise acceptances:

• BROMANCE, STAYCATION, HANGRY — all accepted in WWF earlier than Scrabble.
• EMOJI — accepted in WWF, added to Collins in 2019.

See why word lists differ for the underlying dictionary politics.