Scrabble Bingos: Stems, Endings and How to Find Them
A practical guide to using all seven tiles for the 50-point bonus, with real numbers from our word list.
In Scrabble, a bingo is a play that uses all seven tiles on your rack in a single turn. It earns a 50-point bonus on top of the normal score, which is usually worth more than a big tile like the Q or Z. If you play a word through a tile already on the board, you use eight letters in total, and that also counts as a bingo.
The word list behind Unscramble AU has 32,909 seven-letter words and 40,161 eight-letter words. Nobody memorises them all. Instead, experienced players learn patterns. This guide sets out the ones that matter and backs each with counts from our own word list.
1. Learn the letters, not the words
Some sets of seven letters can be rearranged into many different words. In our list, the letters AEINRST make 11 different seven-letter words: ANESTRI, ANTSIER, NASTIER, RATINES, RESIANT, RETAINS, RETINAS, RETSINA, STAINER, STARNIE, STEARIN. If you draw those seven tiles, you are almost sure to have a bingo, and it doesn't matter which arrangement you remember. Our word list statistics show the other largest families.
2. Use six-letter stems
A stem is a set of six letters that can be combined with a seventh letter to make a bingo. Instead of memorising thousands of words, players memorise a small number of good stems and check which extra tiles complete them. The table shows five well-known stems and, for each, how many of the 26 letters produce at least one valid seven-letter word in our list.
| Stem | Letters that make a bingo | Some examples |
|---|---|---|
| SATIRE | 20 of 26 | +C = ATRESIC; +D = ARIDEST; +G = AGISTER; +L = REALIST; +M = IMARETS |
| RETINA | 20 of 26 | +C = CANTIER; +D = ANTIRED; +G = GRANITE; +L = ENTRAIL; +M = MERANTI |
| TISANE | 24 of 26 | +C = ACETINS; +D = DESTAIN; +G = EASTING; +L = EASTLIN; +M = ETAMINS |
| SANTER | 21 of 26 | +C = CANTERS; +D = ENDARTS; +G = ARGENTS; +L = ANTLERS; +M = ARTSMEN |
| ARSINE | 17 of 26 | +C = ARCSINE; +D = RANDIES; +G = ANGRIES; +L = ALINERS; +M = MARINES |
The stem SATIRE, for example, forms a seven-letter word with 20 different letters. Holding the letters SATIRE with most seventh tiles gives you a play.
Stems built from common letters (E, A, I, R, N, S, T) work best, because those are the letters you are most likely to have.
3. Look for common endings and beginnings
Many bingos are a short root word plus an ending. In our list, 2,116 seven-letter words end in -ING, 2,853 end in -ED, 2,382 end in -ER, 720 end in -IES and 84 end in -ISE. If your rack contains I, N and G, look for an -ING word first; if it holds E and D, try -ED.
The Australian twist: because Collins accepts both -ISE and -IZE, a rack containing I, S and E gives you two families of words to try. For example, REALISE and UTILISE are valid, and so are REALIZE and UTILIZE. See our spelling guide.
Common prefixes such as OUT-, OVER-, UN- and RE- also help. OUTEARN and OUTRAGE are both valid seven-letter words that begin with OUT-.
4. Keep a balanced rack
Setting up a bingo starts one turn earlier. When you can't bingo now, play off the tiles that are hardest to use (duplicates, the V, W and Q) and keep the flexible ones: S, E, R, N, T, I, A and the blanks.
5. Don't forget eight-letter bingos
Eight-letter words are more common than seven-letter words in the list (40,161 against 32,909). To play one you need a tile already on the board that fits the word. Look at every open letter, especially S, E and T, and ask whether it could be the eighth letter.
Highest-scoring seven-letter words by tile value
The words below have the highest total tile values of all seven-letter words in our list. These totals do not include premium squares or the 50-point bonus, and words such as PIZZAZZ need more Zs than the standard tile set contains (there is one Z and two blanks), so they are curiosities rather than practical plays.
| Word | Tile points |
|---|---|
| PIZZAZZ | 45 |
| PAZZAZZ | 45 |
| BEZZAZZ | 45 |
| ZYZZYVA | 43 |
| PIZAZZY | 39 |
| PZAZZES | 36 |
| ZIZZLED | 35 |
| JAZZILY | 35 |
A far more practical high scorer is a plain seven-letter word such as RETINAS: it is worth only 7 on tile values, but with the 50-point bonus and a triple word square it can score 71.
6. Practise with the unscrambler
Whenever you hold seven tiles, paste them into Unscramble AU with Min Length: 7 set. If a seven-letter word appears, you have found your bingo.