What Scrabble words end in OW?

Common OW-ending words include SHADOW, ELBOW, THROW, BELOW, FOLLOW, SHOW, KNOW, FLOW, GROW, CROW, BOW, COW, HOW, ROW, SOW, and VOW. They range from 6 to 13 points.

What are the best scoring OW words?

SHADOW scores 13 points, FOLLOW scores 12, THROW scores 11, and ELBOW/BELOW/SHOW/FLOW each score 10. Longer OW words tend to score higher due to additional consonants.

How to use OW endings strategically?

OW words are versatile because many accept common hooks — BOWS, BOWED, BOWING, BOWLER. They also form parallel plays easily and many are common enough to never be challenged.

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Scrabble Words Ending in OW — Versatile W-Ending Plays

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

S, E, R, T retained — maximum flexibility

✗ Bad Leave

All vowels or all consonants — severely limited plays

5-6

Ideal tiles played per turn

3:4

Vowel:consonant target

Tiles left = start tracking

Top OW-Ending Words by Score

Word	Length	Points	Notes
SHADOW	6	13	SH + D + W = high value
FOLLOW	6	12	Double L + F tile
THROW	5	11	TH combo + W = powerful
ELBOW	5	10	B worth 3 + W worth 4
BELOW	5	10	B + W tiles = 7 base
SHOW	4	10	SH digraph + W
FLOW	4	10	F worth 4 + W worth 4
CROW	4	9	C worth 3, common word
VOW	3	9	V worth 4, strong 3-letter
HOW	3	9	H worth 4 + W worth 4
KNOW	4	8	Silent K still scores
GROW	4	8	G worth 2, everyday word
BOW	3	8	B worth 3 + W
COW	3	8	C worth 3 + W

💡 Insight

OW words have exceptional hook potential. Most accept -S (BOWS, COWS, FLOWS), -ED (BOWED, FLOWED, SHOWED), and -ING (BOWING, GROWING, THROWING). This means playing an OW word now can set up a 5-7 letter extension on your next turn for massive bonus scoring.

Quick-Play OW Words

BOW 8 COW 8 HOW 9 ROW 6 SOW 6 VOW 9 FLOW 10

Strategy Tips for OW Endings

Extension Planning

Play FLOW now, extend to FLOWING next turn for a 7-letter bingo with the 50-point bonus. OW words are natural bingo setups because -ING and -ED extensions are almost always valid.

Parallel Play Paradise

Three-letter OW words (BOW, COW, HOW, ROW, SOW, VOW) are ideal for parallel plays alongside 3-4 letter words already on the board. Each crossword formed scores independently.

Never Challenged

OW words are almost exclusively common English — SHOW, KNOW, GROW, THROW. Unlike obscure endings, you'll never face a challenge on these plays. Use them confidently in any position.

Double W Scoring

SHADOW on a double-word square earns 26 points. FOLLOW across a triple-letter under the F scores even higher. Always check if your longer OW words can reach premium squares — the W tile amplifies every multiplier.

📚 Dig Deeper

→ Words Ending in EW — the other high-value W ending → Words Ending in AY — everyday Y-ending scoring staples

Find More OW Words Instantly

Enter your rack tiles into our free word finder and filter by ending pattern to discover every valid OW word available to you.

Open Word Finder →

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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.

📚 Explore More

→ Scrabble Blog → Scrabble Tile Bag Distribution — All 100 Tiles

Hook Plays & Extensions

Words ending in IN-OW create powerful hook opportunities. A hook is when you add letters to an existing word on the board to form a new valid word. If an opponent plays a word, and you can extend it by adding IN-OW at the end (or build a parallel word ending in IN-OW), you score points for both the new letters and the entire modified word.

🪝 Hooking Strategy

Keep an eye on words already on the board that can be extended with an IN-OW ending. This lets you build off your opponent's plays for big combination scores, especially near premium squares.

Defensively, knowing which words end in IN-OW helps you avoid leaving hook opportunities for your opponent. Before placing a word, ask yourself: can my opponent add letters to what I just played? If so, consider a different placement that leaves fewer extension points exposed, particularly near triple-word squares.

The IN-OW ending pattern also helps with rack management. When you recognise that your remaining tiles could form a word ending in IN-OW, you can plan one or two turns ahead — playing supporting tiles first to set up a higher-scoring IN-OW word on your next turn. This forward-thinking approach is a hallmark of competitive-level Scrabble.

📚 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