retention needs no unscrambling at all — the nine-letter word is already the strongest play its own letters allow, banking 9 points in Scrabble as it stands. In all, 160 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
retention is the highest-scoring word from retention, worth 9 points in Scrabble. The top 10 of 160 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
Only one nine-letter word uses the letters in retention — and it is retention itself. No unscrambling is needed: the word is already playable as written, worth 9 points in Scrabble.
There are 3 eight-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retention. If a familiar word is all you need, start with internet. For points, the strongest plays are internet, renitent, and tenorite — 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 retention produces 9 valid seven-letter words. No common everyday answer stands out among these seven-letter results, so let the score decide: the highest-scoring words are enteron, interne, intoner, nettier, tenoner, tentier, ternion, tontine, and tritone, 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 retention turns up 24 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with entire, intern, and rotten. For points, the strongest plays are entire, intent, intern, intone, intort, intron, netter, niente, norite, orient, rennet, retine, retint, rotten, tenner, tenter, tentie, tinner, tinter, tonier, tonner, torten, triene, and triton — 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 36 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retention. If a familiar word is all you need, start with enter and inner. For points, the strongest plays are enter, inert, inner, inter, intro, irone, niner, niter, niton, nitre, nitro, nonet, noter, otter, renin, rente, retie, ronin, rotte, tenet, tenne, tenno, tenon, tenor, terne, tetri, titer, titre, toner, tonne, torte, toter, treen, trine, trite, and trone — 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 retention produces 42 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with into, iron, nine, none, note, rent, and riot. For points, the strongest plays are erne, inro, into, iron, nene, neon, nett, nine, nite, noir, none, noni, nori, note, rein, reno, rent, rete, riot, rite, rote, roti, teen, tein, tent, tern, tier, tine, tint, tire, tiro, toit, tone, tore, tori, torn, tort, tote, tree, tret, trio, and trot — 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 retention turns up 30 three-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with net, nor, not, one, ten, tie, and tin. For points, the strongest plays are eon, ere, ern, inn, ion, ire, nee, net, nit, nor, not, one, ore, ort, ree, rei, ret, rin, roe, rot, tee, ten, tet, tie, tin, tit, toe, ton, tor, and tot — 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 15 two-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retention. If a familiar word is all you need, start with in, it, no, on, or, and to. For points, the strongest plays are en, er, et, in, it, ne, no, oe, oi, on, or, re, te, ti, and to — each worth 2 points in Scrabble.
The full list follows, sorted A to Z; every score reflects tile constraints and skips board bonuses.
1 ten-letter word can be made using all the letters in retention plus one additional letter.
Swap a single tile in retention 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.
retention 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 three senses for retention. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 9 points on a Scrabble board:
retention is the only nine-letter word the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing retention unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring play from these letters is retention, worth 9 points in Scrabble, and no other word from retention 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 retention produce 160 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 1 nine-letter word, 3 eight-letter words, 9 seven-letter words, 24 six-letter words, 36 five-letter words, 42 four-letter words, 30 three-letter words and 15 two-letter words.