The internet has changed the face of the Scrabble game – there are many online games like Hasbro’s official Scrabble game and similar word games like Wordscraper, Lexulous, and Words with Friends. Each of these games offers several options for the game dictionary – which one should you use when playing with friends instead of playing in a tournament?
The ‘Official Scrabble Players Dictionary’ was originally compiled in 1978 by members of the US National Scrabble Association for use in licensed tournaments. For a word to be included in this dictionary, it must be present in one of five standard print dictionaries: Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate, Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary of the English Language, The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Webster’s New World Second College Edition and The Random House College Dictionary. The current version of this scrabble list is OSPD4.
In the United States, Canada, and Thailand, tournament play now uses the Tournament Word List (TWL), which is a modified version of the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary. The dictionary has been edited from the original OSPD version to remove some words that are less suitable for tournaments. The removed words are those that could be considered offensive to the players. The current version used in competition is TWL2, and is sometimes called OWL (Official Word List).
In the UK, Australia and New Zealand, the dictionary used is “Official Scrabble Words” (OSW). This is a collection of all the words and combinations that can be played in the Scrabble tournament within those countries and uses British English.
In the rest of the world, the SOWPODS dictionary is used. The SOWPODS dictionary is a fusion of the OSPD dictionary of the British OSW and the National Scrabble Association. It is not published as a real dictionary with definitions, but allows you to use the OSW or OSPD dictionaries for reference when playing Scrabble.
So which list should you use? The SOWPODS word list has the most words, which would give you the most chances to play in a friendly game. If you are practicing for a tournament or playing in a more competitive game, you should use the official word list for your country.
