Kiwi Scrabble star Nigel Richards has won the French-language world championships of the world game, without being able to speak French.

Richards, 48, achieved the remarkable feat by memorising all possible words in the official French Scrabble dictionary, from two to 10 letters, AFP reported.

Nigel Richards memorised all possible words in the French Scrabble dictionary.

French Scrabble federation spokesman Antoine Rousseau said Richards had had just nine weeks to prepare for the competition, held in Belgium on Monday.

In the three-hour final, he beat a player from French-speaking Gabon with a word played on two triple-word score boxes - the most coveted in the game.