The two boxes are the start and the end of the word you want, with the middle left open. Fill in one side or both. The letters still have to come from your rack — this narrows what you already found rather than adding letters you do not hold.
02
Must use / must avoid
Handy for dumping awkward tiles. Put q in must use and every result will spend it; put your vowels in must avoid to see what you can play without them.
03
Dictionary and scoring
Switching dictionaries changes both the valid words and the letter values. Words with Friends scores B and C at 4 and J at 10, where Scrabble uses 3 and 8 — the same word can be worth noticeably more or less.
Frequently asked
What does the number beside each word mean?
The score for that word in the dictionary you have selected. A blank tile always counts zero, so if a letter had to be covered by a ? the score shown is what you would actually play, not the theoretical maximum.
Which dictionary should I pick?
Standard English is the broad general-purpose list and a good default. Pick Scrabble North America or International to match your game — they differ by roughly 80,000 words. Words with Friends also switches to that game's letter values.
Any word vs exact anagram?
Any word finds everything you can build from some or all of your letters — this is what you want mid-game. Exact anagram requires every letter, so listen returns silent, enlist and tinsel but nothing shorter.
Is anything sent to a server?
No. The word list downloads once and every search runs locally, which is why results appear in well under a millisecond. Switching dictionary fetches that list the first time you choose it, then caches it.