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| − | This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an [[ | + | This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an [[NWL]] player to learn, and is part of our introduction to [[SOWPODS|Collins (SOWPODS) in North America]]. For brevity, we will refer to the North American and International lexica, as NWL and CSW respectively. |
== How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? == | == How many more words are there, and what would I need to learn? == | ||
| − | Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just | + | Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 52 words of 8 letters or fewer in NWL that are not in CSW, almost all of those are obscure, and there are none with fewer than 4 letters. |
| − | Because CSW contains essentially all the | + | In practice, there are some useful basic words to start with. Because CSW contains essentially all the NWL words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in NWL remains good. Because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in NWL are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW. |
| + | <!-- | ||
So how many words are there? In total, the TWL contains 188,738 words, and CSW contains 276,663. About half of these are 9–15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2–8s. OWL contains 88,099 of these, while CSW has 118,999, which is 30,900 more. This is about 35%, which means that for approximately every 3 TWL words there is an extra CSW word. | So how many words are there? In total, the TWL contains 188,738 words, and CSW contains 276,663. About half of these are 9–15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2–8s. OWL contains 88,099 of these, while CSW has 118,999, which is 30,900 more. This is about 35%, which means that for approximately every 3 TWL words there is an extra CSW word. | ||
However, it is likely that you did not start out playing TWL with the intention of learning all 188,738 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing more than a small fraction of the extra 30,900 2–8s. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. The main thing to keep in mind is that essentially every word you know from TWL is still valid. So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are TWL, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be TWL. | However, it is likely that you did not start out playing TWL with the intention of learning all 188,738 words. Likewise, you can play a good CSW game without needing more than a small fraction of the extra 30,900 2–8s. In fact, you can play a decent game with just the 2s and 3s. The main thing to keep in mind is that essentially every word you know from TWL is still valid. So, as we have already seen that three quarters of the words are TWL, you are already three quarters of the way there. And in many cases, even more than this, because there will be a choice of moves, many of which will be TWL. | ||
| − | + | --> | |
| − | So, what should you actually study? In the following, we present various useful lists and suggestions. In some cases we have presented just the most useful words, but you can see the full list by following the link in the | + | So, what should you actually study? In the following, we present various useful lists and suggestions. In some cases we have presented just the most useful words, but you can see the full list by following the link in the Collins Cheat Sheet section below. |
== Two-letter words == | == Two-letter words == | ||
| − | As in | + | As in NWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW: |
| − | + | 1-10: CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY | |
| − | NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZO | + | 11-20: NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO |
| − | <br>While | + | <br>While 20 is not a large number, you probably will not remember them all straightaway. (Your author has played in the World Championships, and did not remember the 2s in one sitting.) They will become a natural part of the game over time. |
== [[Three-letter words]] == | == [[Three-letter words]] == | ||
| − | Following the 2s, there are | + | Following the 2s, there are 267 3s. The most useful 3s are: |
| − | + | 1-10: QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ZEA ITA ENE AIA IWI | |
| − | JOR WEX | + | 11-20: AYU JOR URE WEX WOX WOF ZEL ZEX AUA NYE |
| − | GIO | + | 21-29: DZO AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX |
| + | ... | ||
| − | <br>Obviously, like in | + | <br>Obviously, like in NWL, you do not need to know 100% of the 3s before continuing. While words such as ZIZ may come in handy some day, it is likely that various 4s and bingos will come up first. |
| − | The next most useful words are the same as in | + | The next most useful words are the same as in NWL: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as VIFDA), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and words with Q but not the Qu combination. |
== [[Vowel dumps]] == | == [[Vowel dumps]] == | ||
| Line 41: | Line 43: | ||
5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI BOOAI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA | 5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI BOOAI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA | ||
6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE | 6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE | ||
| − | 7s: ETAERIO EATERIE | + | 7s: ETAERIO EATERIE AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES DIANOIA MOINEAU AURELIA ... |
| − | 8s: ETAERIOS AEROTONE AEGIRINE NOTITIAE | + | 8s: ETAERIOS ERIONITE AEROTONE AEGIRINE DOUANIER NOTITIAE INAURATE AURELIAN AEGIRITE OLEARIAS ... |
| − | + | ||
== [[Short JQXZ words]] == | == [[Short JQXZ words]] == | ||
J: JA | J: JA | ||
JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ... | JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ... | ||
| − | JOBE BENJ JEDI JAGA | + | JOBE BENJ JUVE JEDI JAGA ... |
OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ... | OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ... | ||
Q: QIN | Q: QIN | ||
QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ... | QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ... | ||
| − | TALAQ QORMA QUOAD | + | TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ... |
| − | X: EXO WEX WOX | + | X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX ... |
| − | WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI | + | WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI LANX ... |
VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ... | VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ... | ||
| − | Z: ZO | + | Z: ZE ZO |
| − | DZO ZOL | + | ZEA ZEL ZEX DZO ZOL ... |
LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ... | LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ... | ||
| − | ZOAEA ZOOEA ZANTE | + | ZOAEA ZOOEA AVIZE ZANTE EZINE ... |
== [[High-probability bingos]] == | == [[High-probability bingos]] == | ||
7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ... | 7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ... | ||
| − | 8s: ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL | + | 8s: TAILERON ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL ... |
== I and U dumps == | == I and U dumps == | ||
I: IWI | I: IWI | ||
| − | DIVI DIXI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI | + | DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI |
U: UMU UTU | U: UMU UTU | ||
HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU | HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU | ||
| Line 75: | Line 77: | ||
== Q-not-followed-by-U words == | == Q-not-followed-by-U words == | ||
| − | FIQH -s QALAMDAN -s | + | FIQH -s QALAMDAN -s TALAQ -s |
| − | GUQIN -s QASIDA -s | + | GUQIN -s QASIDA -s TSADDIQ -s |
| − | INQILAB -s QAWWAL | + | INQILAB -s QAWWAL -s TSADDIQIM |
| − | + | MUQADDAM -s QIN -s TZADDIQ -s | |
| − | + | QABALISM -s QINGHAOSU -s TZADDIQIM | |
| − | + | QABALIST -s QINTARKA WAQF -s | |
| − | + | QABALISTIC QORMA -s YAQONA -s | |
| − | + | QAIMAQAM -s QWERTIES | |
== Going Further == | == Going Further == | ||
| Line 88: | Line 90: | ||
The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further. | The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further. | ||
| − | A significant downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) | + | A significant downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” is not too bad (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long), remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. The CSW words may come back to haunt you in a NWL game a few months down the line! |
| − | But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both | + | But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both NWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly. |
| − | Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in the | + | Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in the [https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/scrabble/scrabble-tools/ Collins Zyzzyva] word study program. |
== Collins Cheat Sheet == | == Collins Cheat Sheet == | ||
| − | We have incorporated the above into a [[Media: | + | We have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins_Cheat_Sheet_CSW21_Part_1_of_2.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet]], that is designed to be used as a reference by players of CSW who started off using NWL [1], in settings that allow it. |
| + | |||
| + | It resembles the original [http://www.cross-tables.com/cs Cheat Sheet] by Mike Baron, and the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words. | ||
| + | |||
| + | There is also a [[Media:Collins_Cheat_Sheet_CSW21_Part_2_of_2.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet Part 2]], which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s. | ||
| − | + | [1] In fact, the sheet can also be used by native CSW players who wish to play NWL to know which words are *not* allowed, although it is not complete in this sense. | |
== More Resources == | == More Resources == | ||
| − | For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as | + | For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as Zyzzyva, see the [[Collins links]] page. |
Please direct comments about this page to its author, [[Nick Ball]]. | Please direct comments about this page to its author, [[Nick Ball]]. | ||
This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an NWL player to learn, and is part of our introduction to Collins (SOWPODS) in North America. For brevity, we will refer to the North American and International lexica, as NWL and CSW respectively.
Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 52 words of 8 letters or fewer in NWL that are not in CSW, almost all of those are obscure, and there are none with fewer than 4 letters.
In practice, there are some useful basic words to start with. Because CSW contains essentially all the NWL words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in NWL remains good. Because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in NWL are also the best to study in CSW. Thus the player who has studied the 2s, 3s, JQXZ words, some 4s, high probability bingos, etc., can continue to use the same methods for CSW.
So, what should you actually study? In the following, we present various useful lists and suggestions. In some cases we have presented just the most useful words, but you can see the full list by following the link in the Collins Cheat Sheet section below.
As in NWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW:
1-10: CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY 11-20: NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO
While 20 is not a large number, you probably will not remember them all straightaway. (Your author has played in the World Championships, and did not remember the 2s in one sitting.) They will become a natural part of the game over time.
Following the 2s, there are 267 3s. The most useful 3s are:
1-10: QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ZEA ITA ENE AIA IWI 11-20: AYU JOR URE WEX WOX WOF ZEL ZEX AUA NYE 21-29: DZO AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX ...
Obviously, like in NWL, you do not need to know 100% of the 3s before continuing. While words such as ZIZ may come in handy some day, it is likely that various 4s and bingos will come up first.
The next most useful words are the same as in NWL: short words with many vowels, high-scorers with J, Q, X and Z, some of the most useful 4s and 5s (words which are likely to be much better than other moves if you have those tiles, such as VIFDA), high probability bingos, dump-words such as 4s with 2 Is, and words with Q but not the Qu combination.
2s: EA EE IO OO OU 3s: AIA AUA AUE 4s: EUOI HIOI EVOE HUIA VIAE IDEE OUPA UVAE ONIE ALOO ... 5s: AIDOI AINEE AULOI BOOAI OUIJA ZOAEA ZOOEA 6s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE 7s: ETAERIO EATERIE AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES DIANOIA MOINEAU AURELIA ... 8s: ETAERIOS ERIONITE AEROTONE AEGIRINE DOUANIER NOTITIAE INAURATE AURELIAN AEGIRITE OLEARIAS ...
J: JA
JAI JOR JOL JAP JIZ ...
JOBE BENJ JUVE JEDI JAGA ...
OUIJA JEWIE JIAOS JEUNE JOBED ...
Q: QIN
QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ...
TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ...
X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX ...
WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI LANX ...
VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ...
Z: ZE ZO
ZEA ZEL ZEX DZO ZOL ...
LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ...
ZOAEA ZOOEA AVIZE ZANTE EZINE ...
7s: NOTAIRE OTARINE ETAERIO ALERION OARIEST OTARIES ROASTIE ORIGANE ENTRAIL RESIANT ... 8s: TAILERON ANOESTRI ARSONITE NOTAIRES ROSINATE ETAERIOS DONARIES DOUANIER ALERIONS SOTERIAL ...
I: IWI
DIVI DIXI FIFI FINI HIOI ISIT MIHI PIPI SIMI SIRI WILI
U: UMU UTU
HUHU KUKU KUTU KUZU PUKU PULU RURU SUSU UMUS UTUS WUDU ZULU
FIQH -s QALAMDAN -s TALAQ -s
GUQIN -s QASIDA -s TSADDIQ -s
INQILAB -s QAWWAL -s TSADDIQIM
MUQADDAM -s QIN -s TZADDIQ -s
QABALISM -s QINGHAOSU -s TZADDIQIM
QABALIST -s QINTARKA WAQF -s
QABALISTIC QORMA -s YAQONA -s
QAIMAQAM -s QWERTIES
The basics above are easily enough for a good CSW game. But you may decide that you wish to go further.
A significant downside to going further is that it can be difficult to keep the two lexica separate. Although remembering which of the words you now know are “new” is not too bad (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long), remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. The CSW words may come back to haunt you in a NWL game a few months down the line!
But nevertheless, some people have high ratings at both NWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
Chosen correctly, it can be shown that learning the top 1% of the words when ordered by playability is equivalent to learning 25% of all the words. So, for the 2-8s, learning the top 300 from CSW is effectively learning one quarter of all the words newly allowed by that lexicon. This top 25% (or any other fraction) can be accessed by playability in the Collins Zyzzyva word study program.
We have incorporated the above into a Collins Cheat Sheet, that is designed to be used as a reference by players of CSW who started off using NWL [1], in settings that allow it.
It resembles the original Cheat Sheet by Mike Baron, and the NSA’s “Important Words to Raise Your Score” sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
There is also a Collins Cheat Sheet Part 2, which contains a useful array of the hooks to CSW 2s, and the full set of CSW 4s.
[1] In fact, the sheet can also be used by native CSW players who wish to play NWL to know which words are *not* allowed, although it is not complete in this sense.
For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as Zyzzyva, see the Collins links page.
Please direct comments about this page to its author, Nick Ball.
This page was last edited on 15 October 2024, at 21:20. Privacy policy
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