Finding a valid word is only half the battle — the highest-scoring word isn't always the longest one. Knowing tile values at a glance helps you choose between several valid plays instead of just taking the first word you spot.
1 point: A, E, I, O, U, L, N, R, S, T — the letters you'll use constantly, worth
the least individually.
2 points: D, G.
3 points: B, C, M, P.
4 points: F, H, V, W, Y.
5 points: K.
8 points: J, X.
10 points: Q, Z.
J, Q, X, and Z are worth the most precisely because they're the hardest to place. If your letters include one of these, it's usually worth searching specifically for a word that uses it rather than defaulting to the longest common word you can find — a short word with a Z can easily outscore a longer word without one.
A longer word isn't automatically worth more. Seven common one-point letters can score less than a four-letter word built around a J or Q. When Word Operative shows you results grouped by length, it's worth scanning the shorter groups too — the per-word score shown next to each result already accounts for this, so a quick scan can turn up a smaller word worth more than a longer one.
