7 Letter Words With These Letters and a Blank: How to Find Them
You’re looking at your Scrabble rack: six letters and a blank tile. Somewhere in there is a seven-letter word worth a 50-point bonus, if only you could see it. This guide shows how to find every seven-letter word you can make from your letters, with or without a blank, and which letter combinations are most likely to give you one.
What is a blank tile?
A Scrabble set has two blank tiles. A blank can stand for any letter you like, but it scores zero points. Blanks are the most valuable tiles in the game, because they make it much easier to use all seven of your tiles in one turn. That’s called a bingo, and in Scrabble it earns a 50-point bonus on top of the word’s score.
Words With Friends and many other word games have blanks too. The idea is the same: with one wild letter, far more words become possible.
How to find 7 letter words with these letters and a blank
Our free word finder has an Unscramble mode built for this:
- Open the word finder and choose Unscramble in the quick search.
- Set the length to 7.
- Type your letters, using ? for the blank. For example: TISANE?
- Press Search. You’ll see every seven-letter word you can make, with common words highlighted.
You can use up to two question marks if you’re lucky enough to hold both blanks. Leave the ? out to see only the words your exact letters make. To find shorter words for when there’s no bingo, set the length to 3, 4, 5 or 6 instead.
The best letters to keep with a blank
Experienced Scrabble players keep certain six-letter sets on their rack, because they combine with almost any seventh letter. We checked every seven-letter word in our list to see which sets work best with a blank:
| Six letters | Seventh letters that work | 7 letter words | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| A E I N S T (TISANE) | 23 | 67 | INSTEAD, SEATING, ENTAILS, NATIVES, PANTIES |
| A E I R S T (SATIRE) | 18 | 69 | FAIREST, PARTIES, PIRATES, REALIST, WAITERS |
| A E L R S T (ALERTS) | 18 | 57 | LARGEST, PLASTER, STARTLE, SCARLET, TRAVELS |
| A E I N R T (RETAIN) | 17 | 53 | CERTAIN, GRANITE, PAINTER, TRAINER, LATRINE |
The champion is A E I N S T. Add any letter except J, Q or Y and you can make at least one seven-letter word. With a blank on your rack, those six letters give you an almost guaranteed bingo.
Examples: TISANE plus one letter
- + D: INSTEAD, STAINED, DETAINS, SAINTED
- + G: SEATING, TEASING, EASTING, INGATES
- + L: ENTAILS, SALIENT, SALTINE, ELASTIN
- + M: INMATES, ETAMINS
- + P: PANTIES, PATINES, SAPIENT
- + R: RETAINS, NASTIER, STAINER, RETINAS
- + V: NATIVES, VAINEST
- + Z: ZANIEST
The most anagram-friendly rack
Without any blank, the seven letters A E I N R S T make more seven-letter words than any other set in our list (nine): RETAINS, RETINAS, NASTIER, STAINER, STEARIN, ANTSIER, RATINES, RETSINA and ANESTRI. If you ever draw them, you have a bingo waiting.
Tips for finding bingos yourself
- Keep good letters. When you play a shorter word, try to leave letters like E, A, I, R, S, T and N on your rack. They join with most other letters.
- Play off the awkward ones. Duplicates and difficult letters such as V, W or a second U make bingos harder. Use them in shorter words first.
- Look for common endings. Many seven-letter words end in -ING, -ERS, -IEST or -ATE. If you hold I, N and G, put them aside and try to build a four-letter start.
- Shuffle the rack. Moving tiles around often makes a word jump out that you couldn’t see before.
- Check the board. A seven-letter word from your rack needs space. An eight-letter word that uses one letter already on the board is another way to get the bonus.
For high-value plays with shorter words, see our list of high-scoring 5 letter Scrabble words, and our guide to words with Q, Z, X and J.
Browse 7 letter words
If you’d rather explore, our 7 letter words list has every seven-letter word, with a solver and lists by first and last letter. For shorter words, try the 6 letter words and 4 letter words lists.
Frequently asked questions
How do I find a 7 letter word with these letters?
Choose Unscramble in our word finder, set the length to 7 and type your letters. Every seven-letter word you can make appears at once, with the most common words highlighted.
How do I search with a blank tile?
Type a question mark (?) for each blank. For example, RETAIN? finds CERTAIN, GRANITE, PAINTER, TRAINER and more.
What is a bingo in Scrabble?
A bingo is a turn where you play all seven of your tiles. In Scrabble it earns a 50-point bonus.
Can I search with two blank tiles?
Yes. Type two question marks, for example AEIST??, and our finder shows every seven-letter word those letters can make with any two extra letters. Expect a long list: two blanks open up hundreds of words.
Does this work for Words With Friends?
Yes. Words With Friends also has blank tiles and a bonus for using all seven tiles. Its dictionary is a little different from Scrabble’s, so a few rare words may not be accepted.
Are all these words allowed in Scrabble?
Our results use the public-domain ENABLE word list. Official Scrabble dictionaries (such as NWL in North America and Collins elsewhere) are very similar, but a few words differ. Check your game’s dictionary if a play is challenged.
All counts in this guide come from our own word list of 23,109 seven-letter words.
