The Best Bingo Stems: 6 Letters That Make the Most 7-Letter Words

ByWordUnscramblerPro Team

A “bingo” is playing all seven of your tiles in one turn, which earns a large bonus in most tile games. The best six letters to hold for a bingo are A, E, I, N, S and T, known as SATINE. In our dictionary, adding 23 of the 26 letters to SATINE makes at least one valid seven-letter word. Next come A-E-E-R-S-T and E-G-I-N-R-S (20 letters each).

Key facts

  • SATINE (A, E, I, N, S, T) + any of 23 letters makes a seven-letter word.
  • Only J, Q and Y fail with SATINE.
  • RETAIN works with 17 letters and SATIRE with 18.
  • Every top stem is made of 1-point letters, and most contain S and E.
Bar chart of the six-letter stems that combine with the most letters
Number of different letters (out of 26) that turn each six-letter stem into a valid seven-letter word.

The top six-letter stems

Stem Letters that work Example six-letter words
A E I N S T 23 TISANE, TINEAS
A E E R S T 20 EASTER, EATERS
E G I N R S 20 REIGNS, RESIGN
A G I L N S 19 ALIGNS, SIGNAL
A E I L N S 19 ALIENS, ALINES
A E L S S T 19 SLATES, STALES
E E L R S T 19 RELETS, STREEL
A E I R S T 18 SATIRE, STRIAE
E O P R S T 18 POSTER, PRESTO
A E N R S T 18 ASTERN, STERNA
E I N R S T 18 INSERT, SINTER
A E L R S T 18 ALERTS, ALTERS

SATINE in action

Here is one seven-letter word for each letter that works with A, E, I, N, S, T:

Add Seven-letter words
B BASINET, BANTIES
C CINEAST, ACETINS
D INSTEAD, DETAINS, STAINED, SAINTED
G SEATING, TEASING, EASTING, INGESTA
L SALIENT, ENTAILS, SALTINE, ELASTIN
M INMATES, ETAMINS
P SAPIENT, PATINES
R RETAINS, RETINAS, NASTIER, STAINER
S NASTIES, TANSIES, SESTINA
U AUNTIES, SINUATE
V NATIVES, VAINEST
W TAWNIES, WANIEST
Z ZANIEST

The other letters that work are A, E, F, H, I, K, N, O, T and X. Many of those words are unusual (FAINEST, INTAKES, ATONIES, SEXTAIN), which is why expert players study them as lists.

How to use stems in a game

  • If you hold five or six of A, E, I, N, R, S, T, keep them and swap the rest.
  • Keep one S. It turns many six-letter stems into bingo chances and adds a hook for plurals.
  • Use the word unscrambler with a blank (?) to check which seventh letter would complete your rack. For example, type SATINE? to see every seven-letter word at once.

Sources

  • Our own analysis of every six-letter combination in the ENABLE word list.

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