Why Letters Are Worth What They Are: Points vs Frequency
Letter values in tile games follow a simple rule: the rarer the letter, the more it is worth. All the 1-point letters (E, S, I, A, R, N, T, O, L, U) are among the 12 most frequent letters in our dictionary, and the 10-pointers Q and Z are among the five rarest. But the match is not perfect, and the exceptions are useful to know.
Key facts
- Every 1-point letter makes up more than 3% of all letters in our dictionary.
- The four rarest letters, J, Q, X and Z, are worth 8 to 10 points.
- Z (0.47% of letters) is more common than X (0.30%) and J (0.16%), but worth more.
- C (4.1%) is more common than U (3.3%) yet worth 3 points instead of 1.
Where the values came from
The classic values were set in the 1930s and 1940s by the game’s inventor, an architect named Alfred Butts, who counted letters in newspaper text to decide how many tiles of each letter to make and how much each should score. That was usage frequency, which is a little different from dictionary frequency. You can read about the difference in the most common letters in English.
Points and frequency for every letter
| Letter | Classic points | Share of letters |
|---|---|---|
| E | 1 | 11.5% |
| S | 1 | 9.5% |
| I | 1 | 8.9% |
| A | 1 | 7.6% |
| R | 1 | 7.1% |
| N | 1 | 6.8% |
| T | 1 | 6.6% |
| O | 1 | 6.5% |
| L | 1 | 5.3% |
| C | 3 | 4.1% |
| D | 2 | 3.5% |
| U | 1 | 3.3% |
| P | 3 | 2.9% |
| M | 3 | 2.8% |
| G | 2 | 2.8% |
| H | 4 | 2.3% |
| B | 3 | 1.9% |
| Y | 4 | 1.6% |
| F | 4 | 1.3% |
| V | 4 | 1.0% |
| K | 5 | 0.9% |
| W | 4 | 0.8% |
| Z | 10 | 0.5% |
| X | 8 | 0.3% |
| Q | 10 | 0.2% |
| J | 8 | 0.2% |
The bargains and the overpriced letters
Compared with how rare they are in words, some letters score more than you would expect:
- Z appears in 3.9% of words, more than J, Q or X, yet it is worth 10 points. Short Z words like ZA, ZAX, ADZ and FEZ make it easy to play.
- H and Y are worth 4 points but appear in plenty of short words (AH, EH, OH, HM, AY, BY, MY, OY, YA, YE, YO).
- C is worth 3 points but makes up 4.1% of letters, more than D, U or P.
And some are worth less than their rarity suggests:
- U is worth 1 point, the same as E, but is only a third as common, and it doesn’t combine as easily.
- V is worth 4 points but is hard to play, because there are no valid two-letter words with V.
The Words With Friends values
Words With Friends uses different values for 12 letters. It raises B, C, G, L, M, N, P and U by one point, J by two and V by one, and lowers H and Y by one. Switch between both systems on any of our tools, or see the side-by-side table on the letter points page.
Sources
- Our own letter counts over the ENABLE word list.
- Tile values and history: Scrabble letter distributions, Wikipedia.
