You've been there. You're staring at your rack, and there it is—the dreaded Q. It's the highest-value tile in the bag, sitting pretty at 10 points, but it feels like a heavy weight dragging your score down. Most players panic. They think they need a U. They spend three turns waiting for that elusive vowel, only to realize their opponent has already blocked the triple-word score.
Honestly, the Q is your best friend or your worst enemy, depending on how many q words with friends you actually know by heart. You don't need a U. You really don't.
Winning at Words With Friends isn't just about having a massive vocabulary; it’s about board management. If you hold onto that Q for too long, you’re losing "turn equity." Every time you pass or play a weak two-point word because you're "saving" the Q for a big play, you are effectively handing the lead to your opponent. The pros don't wait. They dump the Q as fast as possible on a high-multiplier square, often using words that look like typos but are perfectly legal in the game's dictionary (which is based on the Enhanced North American Benchmark Labeled Lexicon, or ENABLE).
The Q-Without-U Secret
The biggest mistake? Obsessing over the letter U. In the standard English language, Q and U are basically married, but in the world of competitive word games, they've had a messy divorce.
There are plenty of words that let you drop that 10-pointer without needing any other specific tile. QI is the king. It’s a two-letter word referring to life force in Chinese traditional medicine. It’s short. It’s easy. It’s the most played word in the history of the game for a reason. If you can land QI on a cross-section where the Q hits a Triple Letter (TL) and the I hits another score, you're looking at 30+ points for a two-letter move. That’s efficiency.
Then you have QAT. It’s a shrub. People chew it in the Middle East for a stimulant effect. In the game, it's a lifesaver. If you have an S, you can make QATS.
What about QAID? It’s a Muslim leader. It’s four letters, uses an A and an I, and can be pluralized to QAIDS. If you’re sitting there with a rack full of vowels and a Q, this word is your get-out-of-jail-free card.
Why Speed Trumps "The Big Play"
People get greedy. They see the Q and think "Quizzical" or "Quadrilateral." While those are great, the odds of you having the exact tiles and the open space on the board to play a 12-letter word are slim to none.
Experts focus on "rack leave." Rack leave is the concept of what tiles you have left after you make a move. If you play a long word but leave yourself with three Is and a V, your next turn is going to be a disaster. Playing short q words with friends like QIS, QOPH, or FAQIR allows you to keep your rack balanced.
QOPH is a fun one. It refers to a letter in the Hebrew alphabet. It’s four letters long and uses a P and an H, which are often awkward to play anyway. By pairing the Q with other "trash" tiles, you refresh your rack and draw new possibilities.
Think about the math. A 50-point word is great. But two 30-point words played over two turns is better than one 50-point word played after three turns of waiting. Total points divided by turns played—that’s the metric that actually wins games.
Using the S Hooks
One of the most underutilized strategies involving q words with friends is the "hook." A hook is a single letter you add to an existing word to create a new one.
Because many Q-words are nouns, they can be pluralized.
🔗 Read more: Why the Pokemon Gen 1 Weakness Chart Is Still So Confusing
- QI becomes QIS.
- QAID becomes QAIDS.
- QAT becomes QATS.
- QUERECHO (a desert-dwelling person) becomes QUERECHOS.
If your opponent plays QI, don't just let it sit there. Hook an S onto it and play a word downwards. You get the 10 points for the Q again, plus whatever new word you just formed. It’s a point-doubling strategy that infuriates casual players but is standard practice in high-level play.
Words You Probably Didn't Know Were Legal
The dictionary used by Words With Friends is surprisingly inclusive. It includes obscure scientific terms, international loanwords, and archaic spellings.
TRANQ (or TRANK) is a perfectly legal way to get rid of a Q. It’s shorthand for a tranquilizer. Most people assume slang isn't allowed, but the ENABLE list is full of it.
SUQ is another one. It’s a variant spelling of souq, an Arab marketplace. It’s only three letters. If there’s a U on the board, you can just tuck your Q right next to it for SUQ.
Have you ever heard of a CINQ? It’s the number five on a die or a deck of cards. It’s a great way to use a C and an I.
Then there’s SHEQEL. This is the currency of Israel. It’s a six-letter word that doesn’t require a U. If you have the E, L, and H, you can bridge a massive gap on the board.
Defensive Q-Playing
Sometimes, playing a Q-word isn't about how many points you get. It’s about how many points you stop your opponent from getting.
The Q is a "clunky" letter. By placing it in a spot that is hard to build off of—like near the edge of the board or next to a consonant that doesn't pair well—you effectively "kill" that section of the board.
If you play QI vertically along the far right edge, there are very few words that can build off a Q or an I in that specific orientation. You’ve claimed your points and shut down the opponent's access to the corner. This is called "clogging." It’s a defensive masterclass.
The Myth of the "Easy" U
We've been conditioned since kindergarten that Q needs U. In Words With Friends, relying on that rule is a recipe for a loss. There are only four U tiles in a standard bag. If you’re holding a Q and waiting for one of those four tiles, you might be waiting the whole game.
Meanwhile, your opponent is cycle-drawing through the bag, picking up the high-value vowels and the blanks. Blanks should almost never be used to represent a U just so you can play a Q-word. That is a waste of the most powerful tile in the game. Save your blanks for bingos (using all seven tiles). Use the "no-U" words to dump your Q instead.
Long Q-Words That Don't Need a U
If you do find yourself with a wide-open board and a handful of tiles, there are some "power words" you should memorize. These aren't just for points; they’re for style.
💡 You might also like: Why the Connections Hint December 1 Puzzle is Driving Everyone Crazy
- QINDARKA (Albanian currency)
- QAWWALI (Sufi devotional music)
- MBAQANGA (South African music style)
- QUERECHO (Native American group)
Are you ever going to play QINDARKA? Probably not. But knowing QINDAR (the singular form) might just save a game one day. Even QANAT (a water management system) is a solid five-letter play that uses common vowels like A.
The Mental Game of the 10-Point Tile
There is a psychological element to seeing that Q. It creates "tile anxiety." You feel like you have to do something big with it.
Relax.
If you can’t find a high-scoring spot for it within two turns, trade it in. Words With Friends allows you to swap tiles at the cost of a turn. While losing a turn feels bad, holding a Q for six turns and scoring zero points is much worse. If the board is closed up and you have no U, no I, and no A, just toss it back into the bag.
Statistics show that players who hold onto high-value letters like Q and Z for more than three turns have a significantly lower win rate. The goal is flow. Keep the tiles moving.
Real Examples from Tournament Play
In competitive Scrabble and Words With Friends circles, players like Nigel Richards have famously memorized entire dictionaries in foreign languages just to master these letter combinations. While you don't need to go that far, observing how top-tier players handle the Q is enlightening.
They treat it like a hot potato.
I once saw a match where a player used QIS to hook onto an existing word, then on the very next turn, the opponent used an S to turn it into QIS again (going a different direction). The Q stayed on the board, but it was used three different times by two different players. It became a strategic anchor for the entire mid-game.
A Simple List to Memorize
If you want to improve your game immediately, stop trying to learn every word in the dictionary. Just learn these. These are the highest-probability q words with friends because they use common letters.
- QI / QIS (The absolute essentials)
- QAT / QATS (Uses the most common vowel)
- QAID / QAIDS (Uses two common vowels)
- QOPH / QOPHS (Good for dumping consonants)
- FAQIR / FAQIRS (A bit longer, but uses F and I)
- SUQ / SUQS (The only one that uses a U but in a weird way)
- QANAT / QANATS (Great for five-letter spaces)
- TRANQ (Modern and easy to remember)
Board Awareness
Before you lay down that Q, look at the multipliers. A Q on a Double Letter (DL) is 20 points before you even add the other letters. A Q on a Triple Letter (TL) is 30 points.
If you can hit a Triple Word (TW) score with a word containing a Q, you’re almost guaranteed to win that game. For example, playing QAT where the Q is on a TL and the T is on a TW.
The math: (10x3) + 1 + 1 = 32. Then multiply that 32 by 3 for the Triple Word. That’s 96 points for a three-letter word.
📖 Related: Why the Burger King Pokémon Poké Ball Recall Changed Everything
That is how you turn a "bad" tile into a landslide victory.
Common Misconceptions
Many players think IQ is a word. It’s not. In most game dictionaries, abbreviations are disallowed. You can play QI, but you can't play IQ.
Another one is QED. Again, it’s an abbreviation (Quod Erat Demonstrandum). Not legal.
People also try to play QUE. While it’s "what" in Spanish, it’s not an English word unless you’re spelling "queue," which requires two Us and two Es. Don't waste your turn on a "maybe" word. If you aren't sure, and the game doesn't have a "check word" feature enabled, stick to the classics like QI.
Navigating the End Game
When the bag is empty, the Q becomes even more dangerous. If you are caught holding the Q when the game ends, its 10 points are deducted from your score and added to your opponent's score. That’s a 20-point swing.
If you see there are only 5 or 6 tiles left in the bag, and you still have the Q, get rid of it. Even if you only get 10 or 12 points for the move, it’s better than the massive penalty at the end.
I’ve seen games won by a single point because one player was smart enough to dump their high-value tiles while the other player was still trying to "setup" a big move.
Actionable Strategy for Your Next Match
To actually get better at using the Q, you need to change your mindset from "How do I spell a word with this?" to "How do I get this off my rack profitably?"
- Memorize QI and QAT today. These two words alone will handle 70% of your Q-related problems.
- Look for the A and I. These are your primary Q-mates. If you have a Q, prioritize keeping an A or an I on your rack.
- Don't wait for the U. It’s a trap. If a U comes, great. If not, don't sweat it.
- Check the edges. Q-words are often short, making them perfect for tight spaces along the board's perimeter.
- Value the swap. If you have a rack of consonants (Q, V, X, R, T, W), don't try to be a hero. Swap them all. A fresh rack of seven tiles is worth more than a struggling turn with zero points.
The Q is only a burden if you don't know the shortcuts. Once you internalize the "no-U" vocabulary, you'll start hoping to see that 10-point tile every time you reach into the bag. It’s a weapon. Learn how to wield it.
Your Cheat Sheet for the Next Turn
- 2 Letters: QI
- 3 Letters: QAT, SUQ
- 4 Letters: QAID, QOPH, CINQ, TRANQ
- 5 Letters: QANAT, FAQIR, QISMA, QURSH
- 6 Letters: SHEQEL, QWERTZ, QANATS
Next time you open the app and see that yellow tile staring back at you, don't groan. Look for the nearest I, find a DL or TL square, and drop QI for a quick lead. That is how the game is played at the expert level.
Next Steps for Mastering Words With Friends:
- Review the ENABLE dictionary specifically for J, X, and Z words to complement your Q-word knowledge.
- Practice "fishing" for bingos by keeping a balanced ratio of vowels to consonants on your rack.
- Study board layouts to identify "hot spots" where a Q-word can overlap with multiple bonus squares.