Hidden inside retains sit anestri, antsier, nastier and 6 others, seven-letter plays tied at the top of this rack with 7 points in Scrabble apiece. In all, 281 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
anestri, antsier, nastier and 1 others tie for the highest Scrabble score from retains at 7 points. The top 10 of 281 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
There are 9 seven-letter words hiding in retains: eight come from rearranging its letters, and retains itself is already a playable word with no unscrambling required. If a familiar word is all you need, start with nastier. For points, the strongest plays are anestri, antsier, nastier, ratines, retains, retinas, retsina, stainer, and stearin — 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 retains turns up 32 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with trains. For points, the strongest plays are airest, antres, arisen, arsine, artsie, astern, estrin, inerts, insert, instar, inters, niters, nitres, ratine, retain, retina, santir, sarnie, satire, seitan, sinter, sterna, strain, striae, strine, tenias, terais, tineas, tisane, trains, triens, 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 78 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retains. If a familiar word is all you need, start with earns, rains, raise, rates, rents, risen, and saint. For points, the strongest plays are airns, airts, anise, antes, antis, antre, arise, aster, astir, earns, entia, etnas, inert, inset, inter, irate, nares, naris, nates, nears, neats, neist, nerts, niter, nites, nitre, rains, raise, ranis, rants, rates, reais, reins, rents, resat, resin, resit, retia, riant, rinse, risen, rites, saint, saner, sarin, satin, senti, serai, serin, siren, sitar, snare, stain, stair, stane, stare, stein, stern, stria, tains, tares, tarns, tarsi, taser, tears, teins, tenia, terai, terns, tians, tiers, tinea, tines, tires, train, trans, 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 retains produces 85 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with airs, ants, arts, earn, ears, east, and eats. For points, the strongest plays are ains, airn, airs, airt, aits, anes, anis, ante, anti, ants, ares, arie, arse, arts, ates, earn, ears, east, eats, eras, erns, erst, etas, etna, ires, naes, nare, near, neat, nest, nets, nite, nits, rain, rais, rani, rant, rase, rate, rats, rein, reis, rent, rest, rets, rias, rins, rise, rite, sain, sane, sari, sate, sati, sear, seat, sent, sera, seta, sine, sire, site, snit, stan, star, stir, tain, tans, tare, tarn, tars, tase, tear, teas, tein, tens, tern, tian, tier, ties, tine, tins, tire, 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 retains turns up 57 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, ern, ers, est, eta, ins, ire, its, nae, net, nit, rai, ran, ras, rat, rei, res, ret, ria, rin, sae, san, sat, sea, sei, sen, ser, set, sin, sir, sit, sri, tae, tan, tar, tas, tea, 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 retains. 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.
76 eight-letter words can be made using all the letters in retains plus one additional letter.
Swap a single tile in retains and you get a different seven-letter rack with its own word list. None of these appear in the results above — they share 6 of the 7 letters, not all of them.
retains 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 four senses for retains. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 7 points on a Scrabble board:
retains is one of nine seven-letter words the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing retains unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring plays from these letters are anestri, antsier, nastier, ratines, retains, retinas, retsina, stainer, and stearin, worth 7 points in Scrabble, and nothing else built from retains 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 retains produce 281 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 9 seven-letter words, 32 six-letter words, 78 five-letter words, 85 four-letter words, 57 three-letter words and 20 two-letter words.