COLEMAK is an alternative keyboard layout designed for efficient typing, created by Shai Coleman in 2006 as an ergonomic alternative to QWERTY.
No. COLEMAK is not in the Scrabble-style word list used by our tools (proper nouns, abbreviations and most slang are excluded), so it cannot be played in Scrabble, Words With Friends or Wordfeud. If it were allowed, its tiles would add up to 15 points in Scrabble.
| Letter | C | O | L | E | M | A | K | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrabble | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 15 |
| Words With Friends | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 18 |
| Wordfeud | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 16 |
COLEMAK is a keyboard layout designed to be a more ergonomic and efficient alternative to the standard QWERTY layout. Created by Shai Coleman in 2006, it aims to minimize finger movement while maintaining much of QWERTY's familiarity. The Colemak layout places the most frequently used letters on the home row, reducing finger travel by approximately 50% compared to QWERTY. It keeps many common shortcuts (Ctrl+Z/X/C/V) in the same positions, making the transition easier for QWERTY users. Key features of Colemak: Ergonomic design: Optimized for English text with minimal finger movement Home row emphasis: Most common letters placed where fingers naturally rest Familiar positions: Retains QWERTY's bottom row and many shortcuts Rolling motions: Encourages alternating hand use and finger rolls
The name Colemak is a portmanteau derived from its creator's name and a reference to the Dvorak keyboard layout. It combines Coleman (the surname of creator Shai Coleman) with the -ak ending from Dvorak. August Dvorak created the Dvorak Simplified Keyboard in 1936, which inspired many alternative layouts. By using the "-ak" suffix, Coleman acknowledged this lineage while establishing Colemak as a distinct innovation in keyboard design. The name was chosen in 2006 when the layout was released to the public. It has since become one of the most popular alternative keyboard layouts, with "Colemak" entering technical vocabularies and even some dictionaries as computing terminology expands.
Anagrams: no other word uses exactly the letters of COLEMAK.
Words inside COLEMAK: 89 shorter words can be made from these letters – highest scoring: COMAKEMACKLEMACKMOCKCLOAKAMOKCAKECALKCOKEKAMELACKLOCK. See all words from COLEMAK.