defending needs no unscrambling at all — the nine-letter word is already the strongest play its own letters allow, banking 15 points in Scrabble as it stands. In all, 100 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
defending is the highest-scoring word from defending, worth 15 points in Scrabble. The top 10 of 100 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
Only one nine-letter word uses the letters in defending — and it is defending itself. No unscrambling is needed: the word is already playable as written, worth 15 points in Scrabble.
Rearranging the letters in defending produces 8 valid seven-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with defined, feeding, and needing. For points, the strongest plays are defined, feeding, feigned, and fending — each worth 12 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling defending turns up 19 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with defend, define, denied, ending, engine, and indeed. For points, the strongest play is fidged — worth 12 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 13 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in defending. If a familiar word is all you need, start with dined and ended. For points, the strongest play is fidge — worth 10 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Rearranging the letters in defending produces 22 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with deed, died, dine, edge, feed, find, and fine. For points, the strongest plays are defi, feed, fend, and find — each worth 8 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling defending turns up 27 three-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with did, die, dig, end, fed, fee, and gee. For points, the strongest plays are def, dif, fed, fid, fig, and gif — each worth 7 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 10 two-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in defending. If a familiar word is all you need, start with id, if, and in. For points, the strongest plays are ef, fe, and if — each worth 5 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Swap a single tile in defending and you get a different nine-letter rack with its own word list. None of these appear in the results above — they share 8 of the 9 letters, not all of them.
defending is in the NWL, the official Scrabble word list for North America, and in the Words With Friends dictionary, so it's playable exactly as it stands and needs no unscrambling.
The 3-point gap between the two totals comes from the tile values themselves: Scrabble and Words With Friends price the same letters differently.
Dictionaries record one sense for defending. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 15 points on a Scrabble board:
defending is the only nine-letter word the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing defending unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring play from these letters is defending, worth 15 points in Scrabble, and no other word from defending earns more points in Scrabble. Words With Friends prices the same letters differently, so the top of the list changes on a Words With Friends board. Both scores count tile values only and exclude premium squares.
The letters in defending produce 100 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 1 nine-letter word, 8 seven-letter words, 19 six-letter words, 13 five-letter words, 22 four-letter words, 27 three-letter words and 10 two-letter words.