detectives needs no unscrambling at all — the ten-letter word is already the strongest play its own letters allow, banking 16 points in Scrabble as it stands. In all, 164 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
detectives is the highest-scoring word from detectives, worth 16 points in Scrabble. The top 10 of 164 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
Only one ten-letter word uses the letters in detectives — and it is detectives itself. No unscrambling is needed: the word is already playable as written, worth 16 points in Scrabble.
Unscrambling detectives produces exactly one nine-letter word: detective. It is an everyday word and an easy play, worth 15 points in Scrabble.
There are 4 eight-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in detectives. No common everyday answer stands out among these eight-letter results, so let the score decide: the highest-scoring word is deceives, worth 14 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Rearranging the letters in detectives produces 10 valid seven-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with detects and devices. For points, the strongest plays are deceive, devices, and evicted — each worth 13 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling detectives turns up 24 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with detect, device, and tested. For points, the strongest play is device — worth 12 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 28 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in detectives. If a familiar word is all you need, start with dices, diets, dives, and edits. For points, the strongest play is viced — worth 11 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Rearranging the letters in detectives produces 52 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with dice, dies, diet, dive, edit, eves, and ices. For points, the strongest play is vice — worth 9 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling detectives turns up 34 three-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with die, eve, ice, ids, its, see, and set. For points, the strongest plays are dev and vid — 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 detectives. If a familiar word is all you need, start with id, is, and it. For points, the strongest plays are de, ed, and id — each worth 3 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
detectives 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 2-point gap between the two totals comes from the tile values themselves: Scrabble and Words With Friends price the same letters differently.
Dictionaries record two senses for detectives. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 16 points on a Scrabble board:
detectives is the only ten-letter word the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing detectives unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring play from these letters is detectives, worth 16 points in Scrabble, and no other word from detectives 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 detectives produce 164 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 1 ten-letter word, 1 nine-letter word, 4 eight-letter words, 10 seven-letter words, 24 six-letter words, 28 five-letter words, 52 four-letter words, 34 three-letter words and 10 two-letter words.