25 Double-Letter Scrabble Words to Have in Your Back Pocket

The best Scrabble players are the strategic ones who keep adding words to their player vocabulary. Once you’ve mastered a number of two-letter words and the high-scoring ones (that are admittedly very difficult to play), start looking to double-letter words to take advantage of the multiples on your tile rack.

1. Agloo

Don't have an i for igloo? Use an a for agloo, otherwise known as an air hole through the ice made by a seal.

2. Allee

Instead of an alley, use this double-double-lettered word meaning “a tree-lined walkway.”

3. Betta

Rather than beta, use that extra t for the freshwater fish.

4. Brattice

A brattice now refers to a heavy curtain or barrier in a mine to help direct air flow, though the medieval meaning was simply ”a temporary partition along a wall.”

5. Dressage

The fanciest of all horse training and equestrian events, dressage is the obedience and discipline riding competition, rather than the racing.

6. Fuggy

To fug is to make something stuffy or odorous, but its adjective form (fuggy) and past and present participles (fugged, fugging) will take care of any extra gs on the board.

7. Ghyll

Not only will ghyll, which is a deep ravine, utilize a double-letter, but it will help if your tile bar is sorely lacking in vowels.

8. Graal

Graal is an older form of the word grail, but it’s also a technique used in glassblowing.

9. Heeler

Don’t have an a for healer? A heeler is a person who puts heels on shoes (as well as an Australian cattle dog).

10. Helluva

If you’re having a helluva time getting rid of a few letters, this nonstandard combination word is actually Scrabble-approved.

11. Innage

Innage is the quantity of goods remaining in a container when received after shipment.

12. Larrup

To decisively defeat someone or trounce them is to larrup.

13. Mammee

Another double-double-letter word, mammee is a species of tropical tree with large red fruit.

14. Moggy

A moggy (also spelled moggie) or moggies (plural) is the cat equivalent of a mutt.

15. Olla

A quick word to tack onto some common board letters, an olla is a wide-mouthed pot or jar.

16. Outtell

Outtell, outtells, and outelling all refer to speaking out or declaring something openly.

17. Perron

A perron can refer to both large outdoor stairways or the stone platforms of certain columns and edifices.

18. Piggery

You're surely prepared with piggy, piggie, and piggish, but don’t forget piggery, another word for a pigpen.

19. Quassia

Score extra points with a well-place q. A quassia is another tropical tree whose bitter bark is sometimes used as a digestive aid or an insecticide.

20. Scabble

No, not Scrabble. Scabble means to shape roughly.

21. Tippet

A tippet is a covering for the shoulders, or a ceremonial scarf worn by clergy.

22. Typp

A typp (or typps, plural) is a unit of yarn size. It’s an acronym for thousand yards per pound.

23. Vallum

The vallum was part of the defensive wall of earth and stone surrounding Roman camps.

24. Weepie

While weepy is an adjective for tending to weep, a weepie is a very maudlin movie.

25. Welly

According to the official Scrabble dictionary, welly is an acceptable form of wellie, the British rain boots.

A version of this story ran in 2018; it has been updated for 2023.

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