d-o-u-g-h
DOUGH is a thick mixture of flour and liquid used for baking bread, or slang for money. In word games, it's a versatile 5-letter word with balanced scoring potential.
10
Points in Scrabble
Base tile values • No multipliers applied
DOUGH has two primary meanings that make it a versatile word. In baking, dough is a thick, malleable mixture of flour and liquid that forms the basis for bread, pastries, and pizza. In slang, "dough" means money, a usage dating back to the 19th century.
In word games, DOUGH scores 10 base points. While it lacks high-value tiles, the combination of D (2 points), G (2 points), and H (4 points) provides steady scoring. The -OUGH ending is particularly useful for parallel plays.
Pro tip: DOUGH is excellent for building longer words. It can become DOUGHS (plural) or combine with prefixes to form SOURDOUGH. The -OUGH pattern also appears in ROUGH, TOUGH, and COUGH, making it a valuable pattern to remember.
DOUGH comes from Old English "dag," related to Old High German "teig" and ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to form" or "to build." The money slang arose from bread being a staple food - "dough makes bread" became "dough = money" in 19th-century American slang.
•The -OUGH ending in DOUGH is one of English's trickiest spellings but great for word games
•DOUGH rhymes with GO, SO, and NO despite its complex spelling - perfect for confusing opponents
•Both meanings of DOUGH (baking and money) are valid, making it easy to remember
"I used DOUGH to set up SOURDOUGH on my next turn - planning ahead really pays off!"
"DOUGH is perfect for parallel plays - that -OUGH ending creates so many two-letter words!"
PUZZLE
26 pts
QUARTZ
24 pts
WIZARD
19 pts
FROZEN
18 pts
SPHINX
18 pts
GALAXY
17 pts
JUMPER
17 pts
EXOTIC
15 pts