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Updated Dec. 10th, 2006

  Play Scrabble in French

 

 French-English Words
 Official dictionary
 Letter distribution
 Starter lists
 Bonus words
 
French Scrabble lexicon
In conclusion

It is probably not easy to find French Scrabble sets in retail, but with Internet Scrabble Club you can play Scrabble in French.

 

French-English words

Even if your school days are far away, you already know more words than you think. Find below the lists of SOWPODS words acceptable in French Scrabble.

  SOWPODS Acceptable in French % Text files
2 121 48 39.7 2 letter words
3 1229 356 29.0 3-letter words
4 5155 1234 23.9 4-letter words
5 11812 2421 20.5 5-letter words
6 20964 3411 16.3 6-letter words
7 31229 4045 13.0 7-letter words
8 38043 4096 10.8 8-letter words
9 36847 3970 10.8 9-letter words
  145400 19581 13.5 2to9 letter words

You already "know" 1/8 of the vocabulary !

 

Official dictionary

The official reference for all competitions endorsed by the Fédération Internationale de Scrabble Francophone (FISF) is the Officiel du jeu Scrabble published by Larousse/FISF. The fourth edition, commonly referred to as ODS or ODS4, is valid from Jan. 1st 2004.

The complete ODS4 list (369085 words, from 2 to 15 letters) can be downloaded here.

Next edition, ODS5 is released in Summer 2007, and come into force Jan 1st 2008.

 

Letter distribution

Letter distribution A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z ?
Frequency 9 2 2 2 15 2 2 2 8 1 1 5 2 6 6 2 1 6 6 6 6 2 1 1 1 1 2
Value 1 3 3 2 1 4 3 4 1 8 10 1 2 1 1 3 8 1 1 1 1 4 10 10 10 10 0

Differences in frequency and value with the English set are highlighted above. Let's go through the most important ones:

  • 7 high scorers:  K, W, X, Y and Z are worth 10 points, J and Q, 8 points.
  • 6 U instead of 4, which make the Q easier to handle, but there is no word as convenient as QI in French.
  • 6 S instead of 4: this letter is also very commonly used in French and most word are pluralized with it.

 

Starter lists

Like in English, it is mandatory to master small words. There are almost half less than in English (75/560 compared to 121/1229). Due to their number (7), it is also very useful to know words with high scorers.

Words with Q without U : half less than in English and most of them are already familiar to you. All words not followed by '/' take an 'S' for the plural.

CINQ / adj et n - Five
COQ nm - A rooster
IRAQIEN, ENNE adj - From Iraq. (*)
PAQSON nm - A packet (slang).
QANUN nm - An Arab musical instrument.
QARAITE adj - Relative to a Jewish sect. (*)
QASIDA nf - Arabic poem.
QAT nm - East-African shrub
QATARI, E or QATARIEN, ENNE adj - From Qatar. (*)
QIBLA nf - The direction of Mecca
QWERTY / adj - (English) keyboard
   
(*) adjectives derived from proper names are not capitalized in French and thus are acceptable.

 

Bonus words

To put his 7 letters down is called scrabbler in French, and a bonus is a scrabble... You will need new automatisms to associate letters but conjugations will make it easier to find bonus words : 80 per cent of bonus words played are inflected verbs.

A simple, regular verb like AIMER will give 37 words !

AIMA AIMANT AIMASSIONS AIMENT AIMERAIT AIMERONS AIMONS
AIMAI AIMAS AIMAT AIMER AIMERAS AIMERONT  
AIMAIENT AIMASSE AIMATES AIMERA AIMERENT AIMES  
AIMAIS AIMASSES AIME AIMERAI AIMEREZ AIMEZ  
AIMAIT AIMASSENT AIMEE AIMERAIENT AIMERIEZ AIMIEZ  
AIMAMES AIMASSIEZ AIMEES AIMERAIS AIMERIONS AIMIONS  

Now, as an exercise, try to determine which tenses, persons are used in the above table..., just kidding :-). The bad news is (and you already remember some nightmares during French lessons...) that defective verbs are common and much more difficult to learn than English irregular verbs : there are 105 conjugation models described in the ODS.

Common typical endings like -EUR, -EUSE (someone doing something), -AGE (actions), -OIR (tools) or prefixes like DE-, RE-, SUR- allow lots of words but also some challenges!

You can download the French equivalent of «All 7s and 8s» : Tous les 7 et 8 (308 pages).

French Scrabble lexicon

English French
anagram anagramme
board grille
bonus (UK), bingo (US) scrabble
challenge contestation
challenge slip bulletin de contestation
cumulative score cumul
double-double quadruple
double-letter score, DLS  lettre compte double
double-word score, DWS mot compte double
endgame fin de partie
floater lettre d'appui
free challenge contestation gratuite
game partie
hook (front ~, back ~) rallonge (~ avant, ~ arrière)
move, play coup
nine-timer nonuple
opening ouverture
parallel play maçonnerie
phon(e)y, non-word mot faux, zéro
power tile lettre chère
rack tirage
rack balancing gestion du reliquat
rating cote
runner lapin
score score
score sheet feuille de marque
set-up  coup préparé
spread écart
square case
tile jeton
tile tracking suivi des lettres
timer, clock pendule
to challenge contester
to exchange (letters) changer (de lettres)
to pass passer
tournament director directeur du tournoi
triple-letter score, TLS lettre compte triple
triple-word score, TWS mot compte triple
variants orthographes multiples
word judge, adjudicator arbitre

 

In conclusion...

Whether you would like to improve your French, to learn always more and more words or simply for a change, playing in a different language is an enriching experience. Why do not set up a French section in your club or develop Scrabble at school?

And, on top of that, keep in mind that it would be probably much easier for you to qualify for the French World Scrabble Championship than to qualify for the English WSC.

French Scrabble is mainly played in Duplicate, but in Québec 2007, after Tours 2006, the 2nd World Cup of "classic" Scrabble will be organized (14 games + best-of-3 final). There is one seat for each country not affiliated to FISF. For more information, contact us.