What is the highest-scoring 3-letter word starting with A?

ADZ scores 13 points, the highest of the 89 valid 3-letter words starting with A in the SOWPODS dictionary.

How many 3-letter words starting with A are there in Scrabble?

There are 89 valid 3-letter words starting with A in the SOWPODS (international) dictionary.

How many points is the letter A worth in Scrabble?

A is worth 1 point on a standard Scrabble tile.

3 Letter Words Starting with A

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July 30, 2026 7 min read Word Finder

There are 89 valid 3-letter words starting with A in the SOWPODS dictionary. A is one of the common 1-point tiles, and the highest-scoring option here is ADZ at 13 points. That's above average for 3-letter words starting with a letter — most letters in this slot manage around 54.

Why A at the Start Matters

💡 Tile Value

A won't win you points on its own, but a 3-letter word is a full rack commitment either way — the win here is having 89 options ready rather than hunting mid-game.

Because you place the first letter, 3-letter words starting with A work well for parallel plays — starting a new word alongside one already on the board without touching it.

Notable Words

Highest scorer: ADZ is worth 13 points — A's 1 points plus the rest of the tiles in the word. It's the play to look for if you're building toward a big turn.

Worth memorising first: ALF (6 points) is one of the lower scorers here, which usually means it's a more familiar word — a safer one to keep in your working vocabulary than the obscure high scorers.

How many options: 89 valid 3-letter words starting with A exist in SOWPODS — well above the ~54 typical for this slot, so this is a productive letter to search on.

Try This on the Board

🧩 Worked Example

Play ADZ through a Double Word Score square and it scores 26 points instead of 13 — worth chasing when you have the tiles and the board opens up that square.