Q without U: every valid Scrabble word with Q and no U

This is the complete reference list of words with a Q and no U at all, pulled directly from the NWL23 (North American) and Collins CSW24 (international) dictionaries – the same word lists that power the LexiLab Scrabble Word Finder.

Why does Q almost always come with U?

In English, Q almost universally precedes U – queen, quiet, quorum, quiche. The letter Q in the Latin alphabet originally represented the /kw/ sound, and the pairing became so entrenched that the Q tile in Scrabble was originally considered nearly unplayable without a U. Early players, stuck with the Q and no U in sight, would often have no choice but to dump it on a low-value play or pass it back into the bag.

The exception is loanwords. Arabic in particular doesn't follow the Latin Q+U convention, and as English absorbed words from Arabic, Persian, and other languages, a small but crucial set of Q-without-U words entered the dictionary. Competitive Scrabble players know every single one of them.

A handful of words break the Q+U spelling rule but still tuck a U in elsewhere – SUQ, BURQA, UMIAQ, QIVIUT, BUQSHA. Fun curiosities, but they won't save you when you're missing the U tile, so this article sticks to words with a Q and no U anywhere.

The NWL23 list (North American Scrabble)

These words are valid under NWL23, the official North American word list. If you play tournament Scrabble in North America, these are your words.

^† QAJAQ and QAJAQS each contain two Q's, but a standard set has only one Q tile – the second has to be a blank, which scores 0. So the most they can actually score in a real game is 20 and 21, not 30 and 31.

Total: 50 valid NWL23 words with a Q and no U (including plurals and variants).

Additional words in CSW24 (Collins / international Scrabble)

If you play under the Collins CSW24 ruleset – the standard in most international and UK tournaments – you have a significantly larger toolkit. All 50 NWL23 words above are also valid in CSW24. On top of those, the following are valid in CSW24 but not in NWL23:

^† QAIMAQAM and QAIMAQAMS each contain two Q's, but a standard set has only one Q tile – the second has to be a blank, which scores 0. So the most they can actually score in a real game is 20 and 21, not 30 and 31.

Total: 89 valid CSW24 words with a Q and no U – the 50 NWL23 words plus these 39 CSW24-only additions.

Point values at a glance

The chart below ranks every Q-without-U word by its Scrabble point value. NWL23 words are shown in solid orange; CSW24-only additions are shown in muted orange.

The highest-scoring Q-without-U plays

QI is the workhorse of Q-without-U play. Two letters, 11 points, and it fits almost anywhere – but its real power is that Q and I are both easy to extend in a second direction. Play QI vertically and you can often form an entirely new word horizontally at the same time, scoring both at once. On a double or triple letter square the returns are devastating. Competitive strategy generally favors getting rid of the Q as soon as a good opportunity appears, since holding it limits your chances of drawing a bingo – QI is exactly that opportunity: one of the best ways to offload the Q.

QOPH (18 pts) and QOPHS (19 pts) are underused gems – a clean way to unload the Q for a big score, and QOPH takes an S on the end whenever you need the longer play.

QWERTY (21 pts) is the surprise – many casual players don't realise it's in the dictionary, but it's perfectly legal. That actually works in your favor under standard double-challenge rules: if an opponent challenges it and loses, they forfeit their turn. The plural QWERTYS (22 pts) is equally valid.

In CSW24, the highest scores by raw letter value are QAIMAQAMS, QAJAQS, and TZADDIQIM, all at 31 points – but two of the three can't actually reach that in a real game. QAIMAQAM and QAJAQ are the only two double-Q words on this list, and a standard set has just one Q tile, so the second Q has to be a blank, which scores zero. That quietly drops QAJAQS and QAIMAQAMS to 21 points in real play, not 31, and costs you a blank on top. Treat them as a novelty rather than a plan. TZADDIQIM is the genuine article: its 31 comes from a natural Q and a natural Z, so it's the only one of the three you can score in full. TZADDIQ (27 pts) is the practical version – the same two 10-point tiles in a more manageable seven letters. And for everyday play, don't overlook TRANQ – the rare Q-without-U word that ordinary players actually recognise.

Where do they come from – and where are they valid?

Most of the Q-without-U words share one thing: they come from languages where Q doesn't need a U. Arabic uses Q for the uvular stop /q/ – a sound further back in the throat than English /k/. Hebrew has the same convention. Chinese, Persian, Turkish, and others followed their own paths. The table below shows which words are valid in each ruleset, grouped by origin.

---

A note on verification

The word lists used here are the same ones that power the LexiLab Scrabble Word Finder – NWL23 (North American, ~196,000 words) and Collins CSW24 (international, ~280,000 words). Both are sourced from the same databases used by official tournament directors. If you want to check a specific word or find plays for your rack, the tool can search either dictionary directly.

For the canonical competitive ruling, always defer to NASPA Zyzzyva (North America), the Collins Word Checker (international), or your tournament director.