Official Scrabble Dictionary - Standard and Electronic: Notes about The Official Game Dictionary

The Scrabble Dictionary is both a dictionary and word builder for Scrabble-like games. It allows you to determine which words can be formed with a given rack of letters and whichever letters are already on the board. The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary (OSPD) is a compilation of words from twelve (12) US college dictionaries from the last few decades.

Until 2005, the official Merriam Webster Scrabble Dictionary was in its third (3rd) edition--now it is in its fourth (4th) edition. Today's version has over 80,000 two to eight (2 to 8) letter words. The online Scrabble dictionary is a specialist’s dictionary and provides word combinations, suggestions, and uses for those orphan letters.

The Scrabble-specific Dictionary is still published by Merriam-Webster, while the copyright to Scrabble itself is held by Hasbro in North America--in non-North American places Mattel holds ownership rights.

General Scrabble Notes

Scrabble is a game of numbers and obscure small words. Scrabble is a lot about luck, but you likely will not win unless you make stellar words, and you can't make stellar words unless you are lucky enough to draw stellar letters.

Even though luck plays a part, you are not going to win without having considerable skill. If you do not have an extensive vocabulary, you are not likely to fare well against an experienced player. It helps to know a lot of two and three letter words, but it also helps to know words that use off-beat but high value letters, like J, X, or Q.

When you combine the “OSPD” and “OSW” of the “Official Scrabble Players Dictionary” and the “Official Scrabble Words”, respectively, you can make the acronym “SOWPODS”, which is what the combined official Scrabble dictionary was before the NASPA took over the reigns from the NSA.