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Difference between revisions of "Important Collins words"

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(=== Collins (SOWPODS) in North America: How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? === Technically, of course, you don’t need to learn anything! In practice, of course, the)
 
(Update cheat sheet links to CSW21 version from CSW15)
 
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This page describes which '''[[Collins]]'''-only '''words''' are  
+
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.
'''important''' for a [[TWL]] player to learn, and is part of our introduction to
 
[[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]].
 
  
 
== 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!
+
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 TWL words, you can continue to play
+
<!--
the same game, and anything that was good in TWL remains good. And
+
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.
because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds
 
of words that are the most useful to study in TWL 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 178,691
+
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.
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
+
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.
(about 98%) of the gain is with the 2&ndash;8s. TWL contains 83,667 of
 
these, while CSW has 30,908 more. This means that, for approximately
 
every 3 TWL words, there is an extra CSW word.
 
  
However, it is likely that you didn&rsquo;t start out playing TWL
+
== Two-letter words ==
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 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.
 
  
So, what should you actually study?  Here are some lists.  In some
+
As in NWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW:
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]] ==
+
  1-10: CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY
 +
  11-20: NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO
  
Start with the 2s. There are 23 of these:
+
<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.
 
 
  CH DA DI EA EE FY GI GU IO JA KO KY
 
  NY OB OO OU PO ST TE UG UR YU 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.
 
  
 
== [[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
+
  21-30: DZO VAX AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX
 +
  ...
  
Obviously, like in TWL, you don&rsquo;t have to be 100% on all the
+
<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.
3s before continuing! While ZIZ may come in handy some day, the
 
chances are, various 4s and bingos will come up first.
 
  
The next most useful words are the same as in TWL: short words with
+
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.
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 or...), high
 
probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and, of course,
 
words with Q but no U.
 
  
 
== [[Vowel dumps]] ==
 
== [[Vowel dumps]] ==
  
; 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 AURELIA MOINEAU DIANOIA...
+
  7s: ETAERIO EATERIE AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES DIANOIA MOINEAU AURELIA ...
; 8s :ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DOUANIER TAENIATE AEGIRITE AURELIAN INAURATE OLEARIAS...
+
  8s: ETAERIOS ERIONITE AEROTONE AEGIRINE DOUANIER NOTITIAE INAURATE AURELIAN AEGIRITE OLEARIAS ...
  
 
== [[Short JQXZ words]] ==
 
== [[Short JQXZ words]] ==
  
; J :JA, JAI JIZ JOR JAP JUD..., JEDI JUVE BENJ JEAT JIRD..., OUIJA JEWIE JAXIE EEJIT JIRRE...  
+
  J: JA
; Q :WAQF QUEP QUOP QUAT QUIM, NIQAB QORMA TALAQ QIBLA QUOIF...  
+
    JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ...
; X :EXO WEX WOX YEX ZEX..., GREX FAIX WEXE DIXI LANX..., VITEX JAXIE XOANA VIBEX WUXIA...  
+
    JOBE BENJ JUVE JEDI JAGA ...
; Z :ZO, ZEA JIZ ZEX REZ BEZ..., ZITE ZATI TREZ ZILA ZOOT..., ZOAEA ZOOEA GRENZ AVIZE WAREZ...
+
    OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ...
 
+
  Q: QIN
== [[High-playability bingos]] ==
+
    QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ...
 
+
    TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ...
; 7s  :ETAERIO OTARINE EROTISE AIERIES ORIGANE OTARIES SEALINE OLEARIA RIOTISE OARIEST...
+
  X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX VAX ...
; 8s :ERIONITE AEROTONE ETAERIOS AEGIRINE DENTARIA DOUANIER TAENIATE LITERATO AEGIRITE AURELIAN...
+
    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 ...
  
== [[I and U dumps]] ==
+
== [[High-probability bingos]] ==
  
   DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI MIHI HIOI WILI SIMI PIPI SIRI ISIT
+
   7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ...
   PUDU WUDU HUHU KUKU PUKU KUTU KUZU PULU ZULU RURU SUSU UTUS YUZU
+
   8s: TAILERON ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL ...
  
== [[Q-not-followed-by-U words]] ==
+
== I and U dumps ==
  
    INQILAB -s      QASIDA -s      TALAQ -s
+
   I: IWI
    MUQADDAM -s      QAWWAL -s    TSADDIQ -s
+
     DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI
      NIQAB -s    QAWWALI -s  TSADDIQIM    
+
   U: UMU UTU
    QABALISM -s      QIBLA -s    TZADDIQ -s
+
     HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU
    QABALIST -s     QIGONG -s  TZADDIQIM 
 
   QABALISTIC      QINGHAOSU -s        WAQF -s
 
    QAIMAQAM -s      QORMA -s     YAQONA -s
 
    QALAMDAN -s    QWERTIES
 
  
==Going Further==
+
== Q-not-followed-by-U words ==
  
The basics above are more than enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide you enjoy it, and wish to go further.
+
        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
  
The major downside to going further is that it can be difficult to
+
== Going Further ==
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
+
The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further.
both TWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite
 
quickly.
 
  
Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top XX% of the
+
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!
words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning XX% of
 
all the words. So learning the top XXXX from CSW is effectively
 
learning XX% of that lexicon. This top XX% can be accessed by
 
playability in Zyzzyva.
 
  
==Collins Cheat Sheet==
+
But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both NWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
  
I have incorporated the above into a [[Cheat Sheet]], that is
+
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.
designed to be used by new-to, or occasional player of, CSW. It
 
resembles the NSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet
 
that was given to new members, except that it concentrates in CSW
 
words. Currently, it is not available for download, because it is
 
a bit too much like just making available a published word list,
 
but NASPA may make the sheet available. I will also send it on
 
[[Nick Ball|request]]: it&rsquo;s just a PDF file.
 
  
There is also a Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.
+
== Collins Cheat Sheet ==
  
For those who literally want all the extra CSW words, check out <a href="http://www.lulu.com/product/hardcover/bobs-color-british-bible-2007-hardcover-%28sowpods%29/5345269">Bob&rsquo;s British Bible</a>.
+
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 nice, is there any word study
+
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.
software for CSW? Well, the best answer is the same as for TWL:
 
[[Zyzzyva]]. This can easily be set
 
up to supply the regular set of TWL 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.
 
  
To set Zyzzyva up with CSW, go to Zyzzyva&rarr;Preferences, select
+
[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.
&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
 
<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 TWL. You can get at just TWL by
 
requiring &ldquo;In Lexicon&rsquo; TWL 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
+
For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as Zyzzyva, see the [[Collins links]] page.
copy is already set to CSW), or you need more information, please
 
check out the [http://www.zyzzyva.net Zyzzyva site],
 
or the Yahoo Groups
 
[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/zyzzyva-users zyzzyva-users] email
 
list, because they know a lot more about it that I do!
 
  
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 02:31, 3 February 2022

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
 21-30: DZO VAX 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 VAX ...
    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.