Hidden inside retainers sit retainers and ternaries, nine-letter plays tied at the top of this rack with 9 points in Scrabble apiece. In all, 478 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
retainers and ternaries tie for the highest Scrabble score from retainers at 9 points. The top 10 of 478 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
There are 2 nine-letter words hiding in retainers: one comes from rearranging its letters, and retainers itself is already a playable word with no unscrambling required. No common everyday answer stands out among these nine-letter results, so let the score decide: the highest-scoring words are retainers and ternaries, each worth 9 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 18 eight-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retainers. If a familiar word is all you need, start with restrain and trainers. For points, the strongest plays are arenites, arsenite, arteries, inserter, reinsert, reinters, rentiers, resinate, restrain, retainer, retrains, stearine, strainer, terrains, terranes, terrines, trainees, and trainers — each worth 8 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Rearranging the letters in retainers produces 51 valid seven-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with eastern, entries, nastier, nearest, retires, and trainer. For points, the strongest plays are aeriest, anestri, antsier, arenite, artsier, earners, earnest, eastern, entires, entries, errants, etesian, etriers, nastier, nearest, ranters, ratines, reearns, reinter, renters, rentier, reraise, rerents, rerisen, retains, retears, retinae, retinas, retines, retires, retrain, retries, retsina, seriate, serrate, sierran, stainer, stearin, sterane, sterner, tarries, tarsier, tearers, tearier, terrain, terrane, terries, terrine, trainee, trainer, and trienes — each worth 7 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling retainers turns up 101 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with arrest, easier, easter, enters, entire, nearer, and neater. For points, the strongest plays are aerier, aeries, airers, airest, antres, arenes, aretes, arisen, arrest, arsine, artier, artsie, astern, earner, easier, easter, eaters, enates, entera, enters, entire, eraser, errant, estrin, etrier, inerts, insert, instar, inters, irater, nearer, neater, nereis, nester, niters, nitres, raiser, ranees, ranter, rarest, raster, raters, ratine, reearn, renest, renter, rentes, rerent, rerise, reseat, resent, resite, rester, retain, retear, reties, retina, retine, retire, rinser, ristra, santir, sarnie, sateen, satire, searer, seater, seiner, seitan, senate, serein, serine, sierra, sinter, sirree, snarer, starer, sterna, strain, striae, strine, tarres, tearer, teaser, tenesi, teniae, tenias, tenser, terais, ternes, terrae, terras, terser, tineas, tisane, trains, treens, triene, triens, triers, and trines — each worth 6 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 123 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retainers. If a familiar word is all you need, start with earns, eaten, enter, erase, rains, raise, and rates. For points, the strongest plays are aerie, airer, airns, airts, anise, antes, antis, antre, arene, arete, arise, arris, aster, astir, earns, easer, eaten, eater, enate, enter, entia, erase, ernes, ester, etnas, inert, inset, inter, irate, nares, naris, nates, nears, neats, neist, nerts, niter, nites, nitre, rains, raise, ranee, ranis, rants, rares, raser, rater, rates, reais, rears, reest, reins, rente, rents, reran, resat, reset, resin, resit, retia, retie, riant, rinse, risen, riser, rites, saint, saner, saree, sarin, satin, seine, sente, senti, serai, serer, serin, setae, siree, siren, sirra, sitar, snare, sneer, stain, stair, stane, stare, steer, stein, stere, stern, stria, tains, tares, tarns, tarre, tarsi, taser, tears, tease, teens, teins, tenia, tense, terai, teres, terne, terns, terra, terse, tians, tiers, tinea, tines, tires, train, trans, treen, trees, trier, tries, and trine — each worth 5 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
Rearranging the letters in retainers produces 100 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with airs, ants, arts, earn, ears, ease, and east. For points, the strongest plays are ains, airn, airs, airt, aits, anes, anis, ante, anti, ants, ares, arie, arse, arts, ates, earn, ears, ease, east, eats, eras, erne, erns, errs, erst, esne, etas, etna, ires, naes, nare, near, neat, nest, nets, nite, nits, rain, rais, rani, rant, rare, rase, rate, rats, rear, rees, rein, reis, rent, rest, rete, rets, rias, rins, rise, rite, sain, sane, sari, sate, sati, sear, seat, seen, seer, sene, sent, sera, sere, seta, sine, sire, site, snit, stan, star, stir, tain, tans, tare, tarn, tars, tase, tear, teas, teen, tees, tein, tens, tern, tian, tier, ties, tine, tins, tire, tree, tres, and tsar — each worth 4 points in Scrabble.
Below, the list runs in alphabetical order, with each score based on the playable tile set — premium squares not included.
Unscrambling retainers turns up 63 three-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with air, ant, are, art, ate, ear, and eat. For points, the strongest plays are ain, air, ais, ait, ane, ani, ant, are, ars, art, ate, ats, ear, eat, ens, era, ere, ern, err, ers, est, eta, ins, ire, its, nae, nee, net, nit, rai, ran, ras, rat, ree, rei, res, ret, ria, rin, sae, san, sat, sea, see, sei, sen, ser, set, sin, sir, sit, sri, tae, tan, tar, tas, tea, tee, ten, tes, tie, tin, and tis — each worth 3 points in Scrabble.
The words below are listed alphabetically. Scores count playable tiles only and leave out premium-square bonuses.
There are 20 two-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retainers. If a familiar word is all you need, start with an, as, at, in, is, and it. For points, the strongest plays are ae, ai, an, ar, as, at, en, er, es, et, in, is, it, na, ne, re, si, ta, te, and ti — each worth 2 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
9 ten-letter words can be made using all the letters in retainers plus one additional letter.
Swap a single tile in retainers 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.
retainers 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 1-point gap between the two totals comes from the tile values themselves: Scrabble and Words With Friends price the same letters differently.
Dictionaries record three senses for retainers. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 9 points on a Scrabble board:
retainers is one of two nine-letter words the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing retainers unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring plays from these letters are retainers and ternaries, worth 9 points in Scrabble, and nothing else built from retainers 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 retainers produce 478 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 2 nine-letter words, 18 eight-letter words, 51 seven-letter words, 101 six-letter words, 123 five-letter words, 100 four-letter words, 63 three-letter words and 20 two-letter words.