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Scrabble Words (TWL98) Trivia Quiz

This quiz tests your word knowledge where a "word" is valid only if it appears in the TWL98 (the official Scrabble Tournament Word List for the National Scrabble Association in the U.S.).

A multiple-choice quiz by jrblack. Estimated time: 6 mins.

Author
jrblack

Time
6 mins

Type
Multiple Choice

Quiz #
113,155

Updated
Dec 03 21

# Qns
10

Difficulty
Difficult

Avg Score
4 / 10

Plays
719

One at a Time - Single Page - Timed Game

Question 1 of 10

1. We all like to "ooh" and "aah" at things; but can they be pluralized? Which of the following words was INVALID according to TWL98? Hint

AAHS

OOHS

OHS

AHS

NEXT>

Question 2 of 10

2. There are 24 three-letter words ending in 'H', and some are quite hard to remember. Which of the following is an INVALID Scrabble word? Hint

POH

FAH

FEH

NOH

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Question 3 of 10

3. Which of the following common Spanish words are INVALID in Scrabble? Hint

DINERO

AMIGO

GRACIAS

CLARO

NEXT>

Question 4 of 10

4. We all have our up days and down days. Which of the following words is INVALID in Scrabble? Hint

MAX

MAXI

MINI

MIN

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Question 5 of 10

5. Proper nouns, as you know, are not allowed in Scrabble. However if they have other meanings, they are allowed. Which of the following common American first-names is INVALID in Scrabble? Hint

JOHN

DAVE

HANK

SHEILA

6. The OSPD3 (Official Scrabble Player's Dictionary, 3rd Ed) removed approximately 200 words because they were deemed offensive. Which of the words below is an example of VALID tournament word, not found in the OSPD3? Hint

FAG

WOG

NIGGARD

GYP

NEXT>

Question 7 of 10

7. There are 96 valid two-letter words in the TWL98 list. How many contain NO vowels (here a vowel is A, E, I, O, U, or Y)? Hint

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Question 8 of 10

8. Which of the following two-letter words does not take an S? (Ie, which of these are INVALID when you append an S?) Hint

NEXT>

Question 9 of 10

9. It's very important to know the 21 words which contain a Q but do not contain a U. Which of the following is an INVALID Q-without-U word? Hint

QINTARKA

SHEQALIM

QOPH

QWERTY

NEXT>

Question 10 of 10

10. Which of the following Q-containing words is INVALID when the Q is replaced by a K? Hint

UMIAQ

QAT

TRANQ

SUQ

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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. We all like to "ooh" and "aah" at things; but can they be pluralized? Which of the following words was INVALID according to TWL98?

Answer: AHS

AH and AAH mean the same thing, yet the former could not take an S, whereas the latter could. This was changed in the 2006 version of the word list.

2. There are 24 three-letter words ending in 'H', and some are quite hard to remember. Which of the following is an INVALID Scrabble word?

Answer: FAH

POH is an interjection expressing disgust (I never use it... do you??). FEH is a Hebrew letter (the same Hebrew letter as PEH and the familiar two-letter word PE). And NOH is the classical drama of Japan.

You don't have to remember the definitions, just the words! Such is the game of Scrabble...

3. Which of the following common Spanish words are INVALID in Scrabble?

Answer: GRACIAS

Why are some words adopted while others are not? iNo s�!

AMIGO means "friend" in Spanish and English. CLARO means "of course" in Spanish, but is adopted because it's a mild type of cigar in English. And DINERO means "money" in Spanish, but is adopted because it was a former coin in Peru.

4. We all have our up days and down days. Which of the following words is INVALID in Scrabble?

Answer: MIN

It seems logical that if MAX is a word, then MIN should be as well. But it's not the case.

MINI is just a small version of something and MAXI is a type of skirt.

5. Proper nouns, as you know, are not allowed in Scrabble. However if they have other meanings, they are allowed. Which of the following common American first-names is INVALID in Scrabble?

Answer: DAVE

JOHN is a toilet (colloquially), HANK is a verb meaning to fasten a sail, and a SHEILA is a young woman (JANE is also used with the same meaning, just as JO and JOE are used to mean "some guy".)

Answer: WOG

FAG is a verb meaning to tire out. NIGGARD is a verb meaning to act in a greedy or stingy fashion. (It's closeness to another very offensive word means that NIGGARD is not a wise choice for public speaking; one school teacher was fired for using it!) And GYP is a verb meaning to swindle. However, this is derived from "Gypsy" which is an ethnic group who takes opposition to the term! Nonetheless, it was not removed from the OSPD3.

A WOG is a "dark-skinned foreigner". This word was removed as too offensive for inclusion.

7. There are 96 valid two-letter words in the TWL98 list. How many contain NO vowels (here a vowel is A, E, I, O, U, or Y)?

Answer: 3

The three are HM, MM, and SH, with their obvious meanings.

8. Which of the following two-letter words does not take an S? (Ie, which of these are INVALID when you append an S?)

Answer: UH

It's very useful to know that XI takes an S; this often can lead to high-scoring plays (XU does NOT take an S, however!). PE is a Hebrew letter (also, PEH, FEH), which may take an S. And LA is part of the musical scale (DO, RE, MI, FA, SO, LA, TI); all of these can take an S.

9. It's very important to know the 21 words which contain a Q but do not contain a U. Which of the following is an INVALID Q-without-U word?

Answer: QINTARKA

All of QINTAR, QINDAR, and QWERTY can take an S to pluralize them (though not SHEQALIM; it's already the plural of SHEQEL); however QINDAR can also be pluralized as QINDARKA, yet QINTAR cannot be pluralized this way.

10. Which of the following Q-containing words is INVALID when the Q is replaced by a K?

Answer: SUQ

UMIAK, TRANK, and KAT are all valid, with the same meanings (which are: a type of canoe, short for tranquilizer, and an evergreen shrub, respectively). However, SUQ (a marketplace) cannot be converted to SUK... the correct spelling of the K-version is SOUK.

Source: Author jrblack

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor ozzz2002 before going online.
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