Daily Rack · day 5

Monday 17 August 2026

Every player in the world opened Monday 17 August 2026 with the same seven tiles: I, E, C, L, L, G, P. The rack is derived from the date itself, so it is identical on every device and nobody gets an easier deal.

The highest-scoring opening word available on this rack is CELLI, worth 18 points. It plays down, starting 4 squares before the centre star. In all, 32 different words can be played from these letters as an opening move.

Opening words are scored on an empty 13×13 board whose bonus squares are laid out in a four-fold pinwheel. The first word must cross the centre star, which is itself a double-word square, so every opening play is doubled before any letter bonuses underneath it are counted.

This day has closed, but the rack behind it is fixed forever — you can work the same seven tiles out on paper. Today's rack is always open on the home page.

The best word: CELLI for 18

C2E1L1L1I118

Other strong words

  1. CLIP 16
  2. EPIC 16
  3. PICE 16
  4. CEIL 14
  5. CELL 14

The best word at each length

The rack opens with words of 2 to 5 letters. This is the highest-scoring one at each length.

Highest-scoring opening word by word length, 17 August 2026
LettersWordScore
2PE6
3CEP14
4CLIP16
5CELLI18

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