Replaying a word

by Phyllis
(Fort Davis, TX USA)

Can the same word be played again in the same game?

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Hi Phyllis - Absolutely! There is no rule in Scrabble preventing words from being repeated throughout the game. This is a very common misconception about the Scrabble rules, and I'm really not sure where it came from.

Actually, repeated words happen quite frequently in official Scrabble games because there are some very handy vowel-clearing words in the official Scrabble dictionary that players take advantage of frequently.

I've attached a picture of the final board from a game played at the 2009 World Scrabble Championships as evidence. You can see that the word AUA has been played twice in this game.

Hope that settles it for you ;-)


P.S. Just in case you're wondering, an AUA is a Maori term for the 'yellow-eye mullet' (a type of fish). It is not allowed in the official Scrabble dictionary used in North America, but it is in the official International Scrabble Dictionary used at the world championships.

I just thought you might like to know that ;-)