What is the highest-scoring 4-letter word starting with O?

OOZY scores 16 points, the highest of the 155 valid 4-letter words starting with O in the SOWPODS dictionary.

How many 4-letter words starting with O are there in Scrabble?

There are 155 valid 4-letter words starting with O in the SOWPODS (international) dictionary.

How many points is the letter O worth in Scrabble?

O is worth 1 point on a standard Scrabble tile.

4 Letter Words Starting with O

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July 30, 2026 7 min read Word Finder

4-letter words starting with O: 155 valid plays. O is one of the common 1-point tiles. The top scorer is OOZY (16 points). For context, the typical letter in this position gives you around 226 words, so O comes in below that.

Why O at the Start Matters

💡 Tile Value

O won't win you points on its own, but a 4-letter word is a full rack commitment either way — the win here is having 155 options ready rather than hunting mid-game.

Because you place the first letter, 4-letter words starting with O work well for parallel plays — starting a new word alongside one already on the board without touching it.

Notable Words

Highest scorer: OOZY is worth 16 points — O'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: OWLY (10 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: 155 valid 4-letter words starting with O exist in SOWPODS — fewer than the ~226 typical for this slot, so it's realistic to learn most of the useful ones.

Try This on the Board

🧩 Worked Example

Play OOZY through a Double Word Score square and it scores 32 points instead of 16 — worth chasing when you have the tiles and the board opens up that square.