2 Letter Words

Word-Finder Guide to Two-Letter Words

Two-letter words are the goto when playing a new word parallel to an existing word, and there is quite a handful of them. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD6), as well as the Official Tournament Word List (TWL or OTCWL), have 107 accepted 2 letter words.

This covers both the Mattel Inc scrabble words and Hasbro Inc. Scrabble words.

Knowledge of these words is not only important in winning but also for calling out your opponents when they play an invalid word. Even if you can’t commit all 107 to memory, a good place to start is with common two-letter words.

Common Two-Letter Words

If you ever find yourself close TO a bonus square, waste NO time — throw those two-letter word tiles right IN! Placing an AX or an OX can rack you up to 54 points on a triple square. And just in case you’re surprised by that awesomeness, you can throw in some exclamations like AH, OH, and EW to express disgust.

Other common 2-letter words include MY, AN, DO, IS, GO, AM, US, HE, BE, AT, BY, EX, MA, WE, HI, and AS.

Gameplay Tips with Two-Letter Words

For a serious player of word games like Scrabble or Words with Friends, knowing 2-letter words is more important than having a robust vocabulary. If you know how to use these short words well, you’ll be able to maintain good rack management and earn huge points with unlikely words.

Here are some tips you should know.

1. If your rack is filled with vowels, useful 2-letter words to restore rack balance and make room for consonants include AA, AE, AI, OE, and OI. 

2. In the same vein, if you need to get rid of some consonants, you can play words like HM, MM, and SH. And if you’re depending on the Collins Scrabble Words, you get some extra consonant words like CH, KY, NY, FY, and ST.

3. While two-letter words can score a few points on their own, with parallel play you can get a few more points. For instance, the moment you recognize that your opponent left a word like CHASE open on the board, playing a new word like HERON directly underneath is called parallel play. That way you score points for two-letter words like CH, HE, AR, SO, EN, and the main word HERON. Even without a bonus square, you’d have earned 26 points.

4. The Collins Scrabble Word (CSW) dictionary has 20 extra 2-letter words. So, if you’re relying on the CSW, you get 127 acceptable two-letter words instead of 107. These extra 20 include CH, DI, EA, EE, FY, GU, IO, JA, KO, KY, NY, OB, OO, OU, ST, UG, UR, YU, ZE, and ZO. The word PH doesn’t exist in the CSW anymore.

5. The valid 2-letter words that can take an ‘S’ (not necessarily a plural form) include XI (Greek letter), KA, KI, QI, ZA, FE (Hebrew Letter) BY, AA, AI (three-toed sloth), HA, HI, ER, PE (Hebrew letter), TA, EL, AD, PI (Greek letter), BA, and musical notes like DO, RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, TE.

6. Both in the TWL and CSW, the only two-letter word with the letter Q is QI.

7. There are no acceptable 2 letter words with the letter V in the Scrabble game. But VU is accepted in words with friends.

8. Even though the official tournament and club word list are no longer used in playing Scrabble game in the USA and Canada, there are still 107 accepted two-letter words in the now adopted North American Scrabble Players Association (NASPA) list.

2-Letter Words FAQs

What is the most common 2-letter word?

The most common 2 letter words in the English language are TO, OF, AT, MY, HE (male person), AN, WE, IS, and IT.

There are also abbreviations like ZA for PIZZA, VO for VOMIT, EL for ELEVATED RAILWAY, BI for BI-SEXUAL, AG for AGRICULTURE, ED for EDUCATION, AD for ADVERTISEMENT, AB for ABDOMINAL MUSCLE, and VU for VOLUME UNIT (only valid in words with friends).

How many 2-letter words are there in English?

There are 107 2 letter words in English —all represented in the Merriam Webster, OSPD6, TWL, and the NASPA scrabble game dictionaries. However, there are 127 acceptable 2 letter words in the Collins Scrabble Words Dictionary.

Be sure to check out our comprehensive list of words of two letters for a refresher before your game.

Is there a 2-letter word with C?

There are no 2-letter words with C except for ‘CH’ in the Collins Scrabble Wordlist.

Is there a Scrabble word with Q?

There’s only one Scrabble word of two letters with Q for both Scrabble and words with friends — QI and its plural form QIs.

Are there 2-letter J words?

J words of two letters include JA, JE, and JO.

Is eg a real scrabble word?

No, EG is not a real scrabble word.

Is there a two-letter Scrabble word with Z?

ZA is a valid Scrabble word of two letters represented in the official Scrabble Players dictionary edition 6. However, the CSW dictionary has an extra two — ZE and ZO.

Is GA a two-letter scrabble word?

No, GA is not a 2-letter scrabble or Words with Friends word.