Try for longer words. They are worth more.

Focus more on the colored tiles. Also, try connecting words across multiple colored tiles for an even better bonus.  If you manage to connect two red tiles with a 7 letter word or more, then you’ll get 990 points!   And a 7 letter word that connects a blue and red tile is worth 660.

Learn to touch type. Easier said than done, but it will pay huge dividends in the game. I know some mouse users who really rock, but in general, typing is faster. If you must use the mouse, consider trying to use the enter key to submit your words instead of moving the mouse all the way to the submit button.  Oh, I can hear my mouse user friends cringing.   Put that cigarrette down and use that hand for the enter key!

Extend your words. When you find a word, attempt to add letters to the front, back, or both to make new words.

More useful suffixes

There all all kind of suffixes out there that are useFUL.  Here are a few. Leveraging a common suffix can give you lots of extra points for those longer words you’ll get.

TTLE TTLER TTER STER EST IEST IER INGER OUT FUL FULL OILER ABLE

nettle settle settler rattle rattler ester aster taster baster dirtiest dustiest dirtier dustier finger linger singer outward outdraw outsee outgo oilder boiler toiler foiler roiler

More useful prefixes

PRE OUT A BE

The special ‘Q’ rule. Watch out for the ‘Qu’ with a ‘U’ next to it.  Have you ever seen anyone come up with a Q word that simply was not possible to make by the normal rules of connecting adjacent letters.  There is a special rule that applies, probably to help facilitate using the Q. If there is a ‘U’ tile next to your ‘Qu’ tile, then in most cases you can treat the ‘U’ tile as a ‘Qu’.

Start using forwards and backwards word combinations. If you see ‘wed’ then ‘dew’ is also there.  Two for the price of one! What a deal!

Some more forwards and backwards combos:

ten net, way yaw, now won, era are, reed deer, straw warts, mined denim

You’ll pick more up as you go. It’s a good trick to quickly getting words to your fingertips.

Steal! Yes, it’s OK! If your mind goes blank, look at the word list (that is, the words your opponents have entered) for some new ideas.

Examine the word list. Play slow placed games to examine the words other people entered and the words people missed.  It’s a great way to improve your knowledge of words.  Also, occasionally watch games (instead of playing them) with players rated slightly better than you to see what they’re up to.