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Difference between revisions of "Important Collins words"

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This page describes which '''[[Collins]]'''-only '''words''' are '''important''' for an [[OTCWL|OWL2]] player to learn, and is part of our introduction to [[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]].
+
This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an [[NWL]] player to learn, and is part of our introduction to [[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]]. For brevity, we will refer to the North American and International lexica, as NWL and CSW respectively.
  
 
== How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? ==
 
== How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? ==
  
Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! (All OWL2 words remain valid.)
+
Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 52 words of 8 letters or fewer in NWL that are not in CSW, almost all of those are obscure, and there are none with fewer than 4 letters.
  
In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with.
+
In practice, there are some useful basic words to start with. Because CSW contains essentially all the NWL words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in NWL remains good. Because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in NWL are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW.
  
Because CSW contains all the OWL2 words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in OWL2 remains good. And because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in OWL2 are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW.
+
<!--
 +
So how many words are there? In total, the TWL contains 188,738 words, and CSW contains 276,663. About half of these are 9&ndash;15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2&ndash;8s. OWL contains 88,099 of these, while CSW has 118,999, which is 30,900 more. This is about 35%, which means that for approximately every 3 TWL words there is an extra CSW word.
  
So how many words are there? In total, the OWL2 contains 178,691 words. CSW, meanwhile, contains 267,750. About half of these are 9&ndash;15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2&ndash;8s. OWL contains 83,667 of these, while CSW has 30,908 more. This means that, for approximately every 3 OWL2 words, there is an extra CSW word.
+
However, it is likely that you did not start out playing TWL with the intention of learning all 188,738 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing more than a small fraction of the extra 30,900 2&ndash;8s. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. The main thing to keep in mind is that essentially every word you know from TWL is still valid. So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are TWL, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be TWL.
 
+
-->
However, it is likely that you didn&rsquo;t start out playing OWL with the intention of learning 178,691 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing anything like the extra 30,908 2&ndash;8s that are actually present. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. Sounds unlikely? Well, the thing to remember of course is that 'every word you know from OWL2 is still valid'! So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are OWL2, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be OWL2.
+
So, what should you actually study? In the following, we present various useful lists and suggestions. In some cases we have presented just the most useful words, but you can see the full list by following the link in the Collins Cheat Sheet section below.
 
 
So, what should you actually study? Here are some lists. In some cases we&rsquo;ve presented just the most useful words from a list, but you can see the full list by following the link in the heading.
 
  
 
== Two-letter words ==
 
== Two-letter words ==
  
Start with the 2s. There are 23 of these:
+
As in NWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW:
  
  CH DA DI EA EE FY GI GU IO JA KO KY
+
  1-10: CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY
   NY OB OO OU PO ST TE UG UR YU ZO
+
   11-20: NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO
  
While that&rsquo;s not too many, you probably won&rsquo;t remember them all straightaway (I&rsquo;ve played in the [[WSC|Worlds]], and I certainly didn&rsquo;t remember the 2s in one sitting!) They&rsquo;ll just become a natural part of the game over time.
+
<br>While 20 is not a large number, you probably will not remember them all straightaway. (Your author has played in the World Championships, and did not remember the 2s in one sitting.) They will become a natural part of the game over time.
  
 
== [[Three-letter words]] ==
 
== [[Three-letter words]] ==
  
Following the 2s, there are 277 3s. The most useful 3s are:
+
Following the 2s, there are 267 3s. The most useful 3s are:
  
  EXO AIA WOX ZEX REZ BEZ WOF WAI OOF ZHO
+
  1-10: QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ZEA ITA ENE AIA IWI
   JAI ZEA JIZ TIX AUA RIZ HOX DZO ZEL FAW
+
  11-20: AYU JOR URE WEX WOX WOF ZEL ZEX AUA NYE
   IWI WEX YEX OYE NOX AUE UEY TEX LUZ AYU
+
   21-29: DZO AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX
 +
   ...
  
Obviously, like in OWL2, you don&rsquo;t have to be 100% on all the 3s before continuing! While ZIZ may come in handy some day, the chances are, various 4s and bingos will come up first.
+
<br>Obviously, like in NWL, you do not need to know 100% of the 3s before continuing. While words such as ZIZ may come in handy some day, it is likely that various 4s and bingos will come up first.
  
The next most useful words are the same as in OWL2: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as FAUVE), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and, of course, words with Q but no U.
+
The next most useful words are the same as in NWL: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as VIFDA), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and words with Q but not the Qu combination.
  
 
== [[Vowel dumps]] ==
 
== [[Vowel dumps]] ==
Line 40: Line 40:
 
   2s: EA EE IO OO OU
 
   2s: EA EE IO OO OU
 
   3s: AIA AUA AUE
 
   3s: AIA AUA AUE
   4s: EUOI HIOI VIAE HUIA EVOE EOAN ONIE UVAE EINE MOAI ...
+
   4s: EUOI HIOI EVOE HUIA VIAE IDEE OUPA UVAE ONIE ALOO ...
   5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA
+
   5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI BOOAI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA
 
   6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE
 
   6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE
   7s: ETAERIO AIERIES OLEARIA EATERIE EUGARIE EQUINIA DOULEIA
+
   7s: ETAERIO EATERIE AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES DIANOIA MOINEAU AURELIA ...
      AURELIA MOINEAU DIANOIA ...
+
   8s: ETAERIOS ERIONITE AEROTONE AEGIRINE DOUANIER NOTITIAE INAURATE AURELIAN AEGIRITE OLEARIAS ...
   8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DOUANIER TAENIATE
 
      AEGIRITE AURELIAN INAURATE OLEARIAS ...
 
  
 
== [[Short JQXZ words]] ==
 
== [[Short JQXZ words]] ==
  
 
   J: JA
 
   J: JA
     JAI JIZ JOR JAP JUD ...
+
     JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ...
     JEDI JUVE BENJ JEAT JIRD ...
+
     JOBE BENJ JUVE JEDI JAGA ...
     OUIJA JEWIE JAXIE EEJIT JIRRE ...  
+
     OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ...
   Q: WAQF QUEP QUOP QUAT QUIM
+
   Q: QIN
     NIQAB QORMA TALAQ QIBLA QUOIF ...  
+
    QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ...
   X: EXO WEX WOX YEX ZEX ...
+
     TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ...
     GREX FAIX WEXE DIXI LANX ...
+
   X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX ...
     VITEX JAXIE XOANA VIBEX WUXIA ...  
+
     WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI LANX ...
   Z: ZO
+
     VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ...
     ZEA JIZ ZEX REZ BEZ ...
+
   Z: ZE ZO
     ZITE ZATI TREZ ZILA ZOOT ...
+
     ZEA ZEL ZEX DZO ZOL ...
     ZOAEA ZOOEA GRENZ AVIZE WAREZ ...  
+
     LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ...
 +
     ZOAEA ZOOEA AVIZE ZANTE EZINE ...
  
== [[High-playability bingos]] ==
+
== [[High-probability bingos]] ==
  
   7s: ETAERIO OTARINE EROTISE AIERIES ORIGANE OTARIES SEALINE
+
   7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ...
      OLEARIA RIOTISE OARIEST ...
+
   8s: TAILERON ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL ...
   8s: ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DENTARIA DOUANIER
 
      TAENIATE LITERATO AEGIRITE AURELIAN ...
 
  
 
== I and U dumps ==
 
== I and U dumps ==
  
   I: DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI MIHI HIOI WILI SIMI PIPI SIRI ISIT
+
   I: IWI
   U: PUDU WUDU HUHU KUKU PUKU KUTU KUZU PULU ZULU RURU SUSU
+
    DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI
    UTUS YUZU
+
   U: UMU UTU
 +
    HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU
  
 
== Q-not-followed-by-U words ==
 
== Q-not-followed-by-U words ==
  
    INQILAB -s     QASIDA -s      TALAQ -s
+
        FIQH -s   QALAMDAN -s      TALAQ -s
    MUQADDAM -s      QAWWAL -s    TSADDIQ -s
+
      GUQIN -s      QASIDA -s    TSADDIQ -s
      NIQAB -s     QAWWALI -s  TSADDIQIM  
+
    INQILAB -s     QAWWAL -s  TSADDIQIM
     QABALISM -s       QIBLA -s    TZADDIQ -s
+
     MUQADDAM -s         QIN -s    TZADDIQ -s
     QABALIST -s     QIGONG -s  TZADDIQIM  
+
     QABALISM -s   QINGHAOSU -s  TZADDIQIM
  QABALISTIC      QINGHAOSU -s       WAQF -s
+
    QABALIST -s   QINTARKA          WAQF -s
    QAIMAQAM -s      QORMA -s      YAQONA -s
+
  QABALISTIC          QORMA -s      YAQONA -s
     QALAMDAN -s    QWERTIES
+
     QAIMAQAM -s    QWERTIES
 
 
==Going Further==
 
 
 
The basics above are more than enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide you enjoy it, and wish to go further.
 
 
 
The major downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are &ldquo;new&rdquo; (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. Those CSW words may come back to haunt you a few months down the line!
 
 
 
But nevertheless, some people have high [[CSW ratings|ratings]] at both OWL2 and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
 
  
Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in Zyzzyva.
+
== Going Further ==
  
==Collins Cheat Sheet==
+
The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further.
  
I have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins cheat sheet.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet]], that is designed to be used by new-to, or occasional player of, CSW. It resembles the original <a href="http://www.cross-tables.com/cs">Cheat Sheet</a> by Mike Baron, and the NSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
+
A significant downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are &ldquo;new&rdquo; is not too bad (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long), remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. The CSW words may come back to haunt you in a NWL game a few months down the line!
  
There is also a [[Media:Collins cheat sheet part 2.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet Part 2]], which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.
+
But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both NWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
  
The sheets have now been updated to [[CSW12|CSW12]]. The rest of this section and the wiki will follow in due course.
+
Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in the [https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/scrabble/scrabble-tools/ Collins Zyzzyva] word study program.
  
The full set of extra CSW words is available via <a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/hardcover/bobs-color-british-bible-2007-hardcover-%28sowpods%29/5345269">Bob&rsquo;s British Bible</a>.
+
== Collins Cheat Sheet ==
  
In 2015, an expanded CSW word list goes into effect. [[WESPA]] released an initiation kit that can be downloaded from [http://http://www.wespa.org/index.shtml their website].
+
We have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins_Cheat_Sheet_CSW21_Part_1_of_2.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet]], that is designed to be used as a reference by players of CSW who started off using NWL [1], in settings that allow it.
  
==Zyzzyva==
+
It resembles the original [http://www.cross-tables.com/cs Cheat Sheet] by Mike Baron, and the NSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
  
Finally, while the lists above are useful, is there any word study software for CSW? The current best answer is the same as for OWL2: [[Zyzzyva]]. This can easily be set up to supply the regular set of OWL2 words, and, in addition, the CSW words. The latter can be marked with a # sign to distinguish them, and searches can be conducted so that only the CSW words are returned, or, if you want to leave them, the CSW words can be suppressed. One can also, for example, require the correct lexicon as part of a quiz answer.
+
There is also a [[Media:Collins_Cheat_Sheet_CSW21_Part_2_of_2.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet Part 2]], which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.
  
To set Zyzzyva up with CSW, go to Zyzzyva&rarr;Preferences, select &ldquo;General&rsquo; in the left navigation bar in the resulting pop-up window, check the box &ldquo;Load Lexicons&rsquo; if it is not checked, and click on Edit. In the &ldquo;Select Lexicons&rsquo; window, click the toggle button in the leftmost column (&ldquo;Default&rdquo;) that is next to CSW. The button one to the right should then be checked, but grayed out. Then, check the box in the second column (&ldquo;Load&rdquo;) next to &ldquo;OWL2+LWL&rdquo;. Do
+
[1] In fact, the sheet can also be used by native CSW players who wish to play NWL to know which words are *not* allowed, although it is not complete in this sense.
<i>not</i> check any of the other boxes, which should all be empty. Finally, click OK. The program may need to rebuild the database, which will take a few minutes. The settings as given are telling Zyzzyva to be CSW by default, but to remember which words are CSW-only, i.e., still good in OWL2. You can get at just OWL2 by requiring &ldquo;In Lexicon&rsquo; OWL2 when searching, or ignoring the words with a # mark.
 
  
If the CSW words are not already marked by a #, go to Zyzzyva&rarr;Preferences, click on &ldquo;Word Tables&rsquo; on the nav-bar, and edit accordingly.
+
== More Resources ==
  
If this fails (I haven&rsquo;t run through it myself, because my copy is already set to CSW), or you need more information, please check out the [http://www.zyzzyva.net Zyzzyva site],
+
For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as Zyzzyva, see the [[Collins links]] page.
or the Yahoo Groups [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zyzzyva-users zyzzyva-users] email list.
 
  
Comments concerning this page may be directed to [[Nick Ball]].
+
Please direct comments about this page to its author, [[Nick Ball]].

Latest revision as of 22:20, 15 October 2024

This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an NWL player to learn, and is part of our introduction to Collins (SOWPODS) in North America. For brevity, we will refer to the North American and International lexica, as NWL and CSW respectively.

How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn?

Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 52 words of 8 letters or fewer in NWL that are not in CSW, almost all of those are obscure, and there are none with fewer than 4 letters.

In practice, there are some useful basic words to start with. Because CSW contains essentially all the NWL words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in NWL remains good. Because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in NWL are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW.

So, what should you actually study? In the following, we present various useful lists and suggestions. In some cases we have presented just the most useful words, but you can see the full list by following the link in the Collins Cheat Sheet section below.

Two-letter words

As in NWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW:

  1-10: CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY
 11-20: NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO


While 20 is not a large number, you probably will not remember them all straightaway. (Your author has played in the World Championships, and did not remember the 2s in one sitting.) They will become a natural part of the game over time.

Three-letter words

Following the 2s, there are 267 3s. The most useful 3s are:

  1-10: QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ZEA ITA ENE AIA IWI
 11-20: AYU JOR URE WEX WOX WOF ZEL ZEX AUA NYE
 21-29: DZO AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX
 ...


Obviously, like in NWL, you do not need to know 100% of the 3s before continuing. While words such as ZIZ may come in handy some day, it is likely that various 4s and bingos will come up first.

The next most useful words are the same as in NWL: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as VIFDA), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and words with Q but not the Qu combination.

Vowel dumps

 2s: EA EE IO OO OU
 3s: AIA AUA AUE
 4s: EUOI HIOI EVOE HUIA VIAE IDEE OUPA UVAE ONIE ALOO ...
 5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI BOOAI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA
 6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE
 7s: ETAERIO EATERIE AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES DIANOIA MOINEAU AURELIA ...
 8s: ETAERIOS ERIONITE AEROTONE AEGIRINE DOUANIER NOTITIAE INAURATE AURELIAN AEGIRITE OLEARIAS ...

Short JQXZ words

 J: JA
    JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ...
    JOBE BENJ JUVE JEDI JAGA ...
    OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ...
 Q: QIN
    QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ...
    TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ...
 X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX ...
    WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI LANX ...
    VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ...
 Z: ZE ZO
    ZEA ZEL ZEX DZO ZOL ...
    LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ...
    ZOAEA ZOOEA AVIZE ZANTE EZINE ...

High-probability bingos

 7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ...
 8s: TAILERON ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL ...

I and U dumps

 I: IWI
    DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI
 U: UMU UTU
    HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU

Q-not-followed-by-U words

       FIQH -s    QALAMDAN -s       TALAQ -s
      GUQIN -s      QASIDA -s     TSADDIQ -s
    INQILAB -s      QAWWAL -s   TSADDIQIM
   MUQADDAM -s         QIN -s     TZADDIQ -s
   QABALISM -s   QINGHAOSU -s   TZADDIQIM
   QABALIST -s    QINTARKA           WAQF -s
 QABALISTIC          QORMA -s      YAQONA -s
   QAIMAQAM -s    QWERTIES

Going Further

The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further.

A significant downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” is not too bad (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long), remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. The CSW words may come back to haunt you in a NWL game a few months down the line!

But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both NWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.

Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in the Collins Zyzzyva word study program.

Collins Cheat Sheet

We have incorporated the above into a Collins Cheat Sheet, that is designed to be used as a reference by players of CSW who started off using NWL [1], in settings that allow it.

It resembles the original Cheat Sheet by Mike Baron, and the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.

There is also a Collins Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.

[1] In fact, the sheet can also be used by native CSW players who wish to play NWL to know which words are *not* allowed, although it is not complete in this sense.

More Resources

For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as Zyzzyva, see the Collins links page.

Please direct comments about this page to its author, Nick Ball.