retrieval needs no unscrambling at all — the nine-letter word is already the strongest play its own letters allow, banking 12 points in Scrabble as it stands. In all, 257 valid words come out of this rack, grouped by length below and checked for Words With Friends as well as Scrabble.
retrieval is the highest-scoring word from retrieval, worth 12 points in Scrabble. The top 10 of 257 words are shown here, with the full list organized by length below.
Only one nine-letter word uses the letters in retrieval — and it is retrieval itself. No unscrambling is needed: the word is already playable as written, worth 12 points in Scrabble.
There are 4 eight-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retrieval. If a familiar word is all you need, start with relative. For points, the strongest plays are levirate, relative, and traveler — each worth 11 points in Scrabble.
Rearranging the letters in retrieval produces 17 valid seven-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with earlier and trailer. For points, 7 words tie at 10 points, including averter, elative and leavier.
Unscrambling retrieval turns up 41 six-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with arrive, eviler and relate. For points, 22 words tie at 9 points, including arrive, eviler and reveal.
There are 60 five-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retrieval. If a familiar word is all you need, start with alert, alive and alter. For points, 29 words tie at 8 points, including alive, leave and liver.
Rearranging the letters in retrieval produces 70 valid four-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with ever, evil and late. For points, 24 words tie at 7 points, including ever, evil and live.
Unscrambling retrieval turns up 49 three-letter words. If a familiar word is all you need, start with air, are and art. For points, 12 words tie at 6 points, including eve, vet and ave.
There are 15 two-letter words that can be made by unscrambling the letters in retrieval. If a familiar word is all you need, start with at and it. For points, 15 words tie at 2 points, including at, it and ae.
4 ten-letter words can be made using all the letters in retrieval plus one additional letter.
Swap a single tile in retrieval 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.
retrieval 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 retrieval. Scrabble and Words With Friends score tiles and not meanings, so every sense below is worth the same 12 points on a Scrabble board:
retrieval is the only nine-letter word the same letters produce. No arrangement of the same tiles scores higher in Scrabble, so playing retrieval unchanged also takes the maximum points these letters offer.
The highest-scoring play from these letters is retrieval, worth 12 points in Scrabble, and no other word from retrieval 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 retrieval produce 257 valid words in the Scrabble and Words With Friends dictionaries. The word count by length is: 1 nine-letter word, 4 eight-letter words, 17 seven-letter words, 41 six-letter words, 60 five-letter words, 70 four-letter words, 49 three-letter words and 15 two-letter words.