Words Containing AA — Scrabble Word List & Strategy
The letter pair AA is one of the more unusual combinations in Scrabble. While double-A words are relatively rare in English, knowing them gives you a powerful edge when you're stuck with multiple A tiles on your rack. These words often come from Afrikaans, Arabic, or Hawaiian origins and can turn a vowel-heavy rack into a scoring opportunity.
Top AA Words by Score
| # | Word | Points | Definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | AARDVARK | 16 | A burrowing mammal |
| 2 | AARDWOLF | 15 | A hyena-like animal |
| 3 | KRAAL | 9 | A livestock enclosure |
| 4 | SALAAM | 8 | A greeting of peace |
| 5 | BAAED | 8 | Made a sheep sound |
| 6 | BAAL | 6 | A Semitic deity |
| 7 | AAH | 6 | An exclamation of relief |
| 8 | BAAS | 6 | Plural of baa |
| 9 | NAAN | 4 | Indian flatbread |
| 10 | TAAL | 4 | Afrikaans language |
| 11 | AAL | 3 | An East Indian shrub |
~65
Valid AA words
7 pts
Average score
Uncommon
Pair rarity
When to Use AA Words
AA words are your secret weapon when stuck with multiple A tiles. With 9 A tiles in the bag, drawing 2-3 at once happens frequently. Instead of exchanging, play these words to dump excess vowels while still scoring.
🎯 Key Takeaway
AA words solve the double-A problem that plagues vowel-heavy racks. Memorize AAH, AAL, BAAL, NAAN, and KRAAL as your go-to plays. The 2-letter word AA itself is perfect for parallel plays in tight positions.
🔍 Find every AA word from your tiles — instant results, no signup
Open Word Finder →Quick Tips
Practice with the solver: Enter your rack tiles into our free word finder to discover every valid combination. Seeing all options trains your pattern recognition over time.
Memorise in groups: Rather than learning words randomly, study them by pattern — same prefix, same suffix, or same tile combination. Grouped learning is 3x more effective than isolated word lists.
Test yourself daily: Pick 5 words from this page each day and try to use them in practice games. Active recall beats passive reading for long-term retention.
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Building Your Word Arsenal
⚡ Speed of Recall
Knowing a word exists is only half the battle. You need instant recall under time pressure — which only comes from repeated, active study rather than passive reading.
Use spaced repetition: Review new words at increasing intervals: 1 day, 3 days, 1 week, 2 weeks. This locks words into long-term memory efficiently.
Review before every game: Spend 5 minutes before each game session reviewing your most recent word additions. Fresh recall converts directly into points.
Group by letter patterns: Organise study around patterns: words with double letters, words with PH, words ending in -TION. Pattern recognition fires faster than individual word recall.
Applying These Words in Real Games
🎯 Pattern Recognition
Knowing a word exists and playing it are different skills. The bridge is pattern recognition — training your brain to spot opportunities from tile combinations.
🧩 Building Game-Ready Recall
Take each word and mentally construct the rack you would need to play it
Practice with your solver — enter random racks and check if you spot the best play before revealing it
Ask yourself: which premium squares could it reach from likely board positions?
Spend one week focused on a specific length or pattern, then rotate to the next
Advanced Rack Management
⚖️ Balance Is Everything
A balanced rack (3-4 consonants, 2-3 vowels, one high-value tile) has 3x more playable combinations than a rack with 6 consonants or 5 vowels.
✓ Good Leave
Balanced 4C/3V with no duplicates
✗ Bad Leave
AAAEEI or BCDFGH — impossible to play through
50pts
Bingo bonus for 7 tiles
3x
More options from balanced rack
100%
Rack deduction in endgame
📚 Sources & References
- • SOWPODS International Dictionary (267,751 words), Collins + TWL combined
- • Tournament Word List (TWL06), NASPA Word List Committee
- • Collins Scrabble Words (CSW), HarperCollins Publishers
- • Tile distribution & values per Hasbro official Scrabble rules
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