The 107 2-letter words s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s s Added in 2nd Added in 3rd Added in 4th Added in 5th Added in 6th DA (and DEs) were removed after OSPD3 new -s forms: AGs, AHs, BEs, EDs, GOs There are no 2-letter words with C or V. There is a 2-letter J-word: sweetheart (that doesn't take an -s). And there is an important set of 5 X-words: , , , , . It's important to remember that

has a plural form , but has no -s form. There are two 2-letter K-words: , ,

and both take -s: , . It should be easy to remember the 3 new valuable words, , and . They all take -s: , and 5 words have no consonants: s, , s, s, and (& ), and 3 have no vowels: , and (& s, )! Organizing the "hard words" by meaning 9 high value words with J K Q X Z sweetheart (no -s!) s Egyptian spirit s the vital force in Chinese thought okay s the vital force in Chinese thought -es,

-ed, -ing to cross out s Greek letter Vietnamese money (no -s!) s pizza 8 Notes of the Musical Scale Though DO and SO are too common to think about, they're also among the 7 common names

for the notes of the scale, and they all take "-s" (+ OSPD5 added TE as the equivalent of TI): s s s s s s s s 8 Letters of the English Alphabet 8 are names for letters of the English alphabet, (a f l m n r s x). (You can make a mnemonic sentence for this, like "A film lover may need really strong xrays" or something similar you can call on to help you remember.) Except for EX (which naturally requires "-es") they all take "-s":

(Thanks to Nikki Wei for adding the letter "L", (EL) to this letter list. OSPD only lists ELL with the meaning 'the letter L', using 'elevated railway' for EL, below, but OSPD only shows one meaning per word.) A F L M N R S X s s s s s s s 3 Mom & Pop 3 words are "mom and pop": s s s 18 Interjections 20 are interjections. You may not think of them as "real words", but the OSPD does. These may take a little memorizing: s s s s s

3 of these have no vowels: HM, MM, SH.

4 end in -H: AH, EH, OH, UH. 11 are reversible: AH/HA, EH/HE, ER/RE, OH/HO, OW/WO, OY/YO, TA/AT, UM/MU

(13 if you count AA and MM) 9 Shortened Forms s abdominal muscle s education s advertisement s moment s agriculture s op-art s bi-sexual s elevated railways s pizza 2 Oldish English interj. s you 5 slightly slangy s s pal one no ate you 4 names of Greek letters s s s s 2 psychological words s psyche part s mantra 5 with no consonants s lava one s sloth s whirlwind interj. of dismay or pain Only these 14 hard "foreign" words to memorize s Asian tree s Egyptian spirit from s Hebrew letter s Chinese measure nee, born s natural force bone s Hebrew letter s note of scale s note of scale s woe s white garment worn in martial arts s chamber pot Looking at it this way, you ought to be able to remember the 105 2-letter words with just a few minutes practice each day for a week. How to practice? Study these charts, take a pencil and paper and try to write out the 105 words! Keep doing it till you can. "Guaranteed" to add an average of 50 points to your game! Next step: learn which ones take -s! What do these 2-letter words have in common?: AH, AL, AS, BA, BO, BY, IN, IS, IT, LA, MA, MI, MU, NA, NE answer Note

from Steven Alexander's Scrabble FAQ: As of March 1998, club and tournament play in North America use an unexpurgated lexicon, including all two- to nine-letter words and inflections, titled "Official Tournament and Club Word List" (but generally known as "TWL" or "TWL98"), sold only to members of NSA. Send $9.95 plus sales tax for AR, CA, MA, OH or WA, specifying membership number, to Merriam-Webster Inc.

P.O. Box 281

Springfield, MA 01102

(800) 201-5029 x100

(413) 734-3134 x100 or $13.95 CAD in Canada, to Thomas Allen & Son, Ltd

390 Steelcase Rd E

Markham, ON L3R 1G2

(905) 475-9126 What do they have in common? AH, AL, AS, BA, BO, BY, IN, IS, IT, LA, MA, MI, MU, NA, NE along with DO, GO, HA, ID, PE, RE, SH, WE, YE all make 3-letter words starting with A!