Important Collins words - Revision history

CM000457: Update to CSW24, and text updates

2025-08-22T17:57:21Z

Update to CSW24, and text updates

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Judycole: /* Going Further */ fixed zyzzyva link

2024-10-16T02:20:30Z

‎Going Further: fixed zyzzyva link

Judycole: /* Short JQXZ words */ remove vax

2024-10-16T02:17:50Z

‎Short JQXZ words: remove vax

Judycole: /* Three-letter words */ removed vax

2024-10-16T02:16:33Z

‎Three-letter words: removed vax

CM000457: Update cheat sheet links to CSW21 version from CSW15

2022-02-03T06:31:26Z

Update cheat sheet links to CSW21 version from CSW15

CM000457: Update to CSW21

2022-02-03T06:09:01Z

Update to CSW21

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Judycole: /* Going Further */ 2021-10-04 - Changed to Collins Zyzzyva

2021-10-04T20:00:12Z

‎Going Further: 2021-10-04 - Changed to Collins Zyzzyva

Judycole: /* Collins Cheat Sheet */ 2021-10-04 - Clarified that cheat sheet is CSW15

2021-10-04T19:35:54Z

‎Collins Cheat Sheet: 2021-10-04 - Clarified that cheat sheet is CSW15

Judycole: 2021-10-04 - Updated for NWL and CSW21

2021-10-04T19:35:03Z

2021-10-04 - Updated for NWL and CSW21

Nball at 21:43, 16 April 2017

2017-04-16T21:43:48Z

@@ Line 94: / Line 94: @@
 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 [[https://blog.collinsdictionary.com/scrabble/scrabble-tools/ Collins Zyzzyva]] word study program.
+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 ==

@@ Line 55: / Line 55: @@
       QINS WAQF FIQH QUOP QUEP ...
       TALAQ QORMA QUOIF QUOAD QUAIR ...
-   X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX VAX ...
+   X: EXO WEX WOX ZEX ...
       WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI LANX ...
       VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ...

@@ Line 29: / Line 29: @@
 -10: QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ZEA ITA ENE AIA IWI
 -20: AYU JOR URE WEX WOX WOF ZEL ZEX AUA NYE
--30: DZO VAX AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX
+-29: DZO AME GIO TEX ONY OBO WAI ZOL YEX
    ...

@@ Line 98: / Line 98: @@
 == Collins Cheat Sheet ==
-We have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins_cheat_sheet_part_1.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.
+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&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
-There is also a [[Media:Collins_cheat_sheet_part_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.
+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.

@@ Line 93: / Line 93: @@
 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 [[NASPA Zyzzyva|Zyzzyva]] word study program.
+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 ==

@@ Line 97: / Line 97: @@
 == Collins Cheat Sheet ==
-We have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins_cheat_sheet_part_1.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet]], that is designed to be used by new-to, or occasional players of, CSW. It resembles the original [http://www.cross-tables.com/cs Cheat Sheet] by Mike Baron, and the NSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
+We have incorporated the above into a [[Media:Collins_cheat_sheet_part_1.pdf|Collins Cheat Sheet]] for CSW15, that is designed to be used by new-to, or occasional players of, CSW. It resembles the original [http://www.cross-tables.com/cs Cheat Sheet] by Mike Baron, and the NSA&rsquo;s &ldquo;Important Words to Raise Your Score&rdquo; sheet that was given to new members, except that it concentrates on CSW words.
 There is also a [[Media:Collins_cheat_sheet_part_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.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-This page describes which Collins-only words are important for an [[OTCWL|OTCWL]] 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, OTCWL16 and CSW15, as TWL and CSW respectively.
+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? ==
-Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 59 2-8 letter words in TWL that are not in CSW, and almost all of those are obscure. In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with.
+Technically, of course, you need to learn almost nothing, because there are just 52 2-8 letter words in NWL that are not in CSW, and almost all of those are obscure. In practice, of course, there are some useful basic words to start with.
-Because CSW contains essentially all the TWL words, you can continue to play the same game, and anything that was good in TWL remains good. Because the fundamentals of the game have not changed, the kinds of words that are the most useful to study in TWL 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.
+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&ndash;15 letters, and while some 9s can be useful, the vast majority (about 98%) of the gain is with the 2&ndash;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&ndash;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 heading.
 == Two-letter words ==
-As in TWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 19 more of these in CSW:
+As in TWL, by far the most useful words are the 2s. There are 20 more of these in CSW:
    CH DI EA EE FY GU IO JA KO KY
-   NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZO
+   NY OB OO OU ST UG UR YU ZE ZO
-<br>While 19 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.
+<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]] ==
-Following the 2s, there are 260 3s. The most useful 3s are:
+Following the 2s, there are 267 3s. The most useful 3s are:
    QIN EXO IDE OYE JAI ENE ITA AIA IWI AYU
@@ Line 42: / Line 43: @@
 s: EUOUAE ZOAEAE ZOOEAE
 s: ETAERIO EATERIE AERADIO AIERIES OLEARIA EUGARIE DOULEIA EUOUAES MOINEAU DIANOIA ...
-s: ETAERIOS AEROTONE AEGIRINE NOTITIAE DOUANIER AEGIRITE INAURATE AERADIOS ETOURDIE OLEARIAS ...
+s: ETAERIOS AEROTONE AEGIRINE NOTITIAE DOUANIER AEGIRITE INAURATE ETOURDIE OLEARIAS ...
 == [[Short JQXZ words]] ==
@@ Line 56: / Line 57: @@
       WEXE GREX FAIX DIXI SAXE ...
       VITEX VIBEX XOANA JAXIE WEXED ...
-   Z: ZO
+   Z: ZE ZO
       DZO ZOL ZEX ZEA BEZ ...
       LAZO TREZ ZITE ZOOT ZATI ...
@@ Line 88: / Line 89: @@
 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 &ldquo;new&rdquo; (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. Those CSW words may come back to haunt you in a TWL game a few months down the line!
+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 &ldquo;new&rdquo; (think back to the last dictionary update, if you have been playing that long) is not too bad, remembering a word and remembering which lexicon it is in are not the same thing, especially over a period of time. Those 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 TWL and CSW, and one can get to quite a high standard quite quickly.
+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 edition of the [[Collins links|Zyzzyva]] word study program.
+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 [[NASPA Zyzzyva|Zyzzyva]] word study program.
 == Collins Cheat Sheet ==

@@ Line 102: / Line 102: @@
 == More Resources ==
-For further resources regarding the CSW words, including word study software such as [[Zyzzyva]], see the [[Collins links]] page.
+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]].