Is EAU a valid word?

EAU is the French word for water, familiar from perfume labels such as eau de cologne. English took it whole, so it is valid on its own, and its plural is the French-style EAUX, which also uses the 8-point X. Three vowels in a row make EAU one of the best ways to clear a rack that is all vowels. If you draw E, A and U together, look for a spot where EAU touches a word already down.

Before any bonus squares: E 1 + A 1 + U 1 = 3. On a double-word square that's 6, on a triple-word 9, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.

Later in the game, put the E on a 3L square and EAU is worth 5 before any word bonus.

Place that one tile so it also forms a word in the other direction and both words score.

Swap any one letter of EAU and these are still words:

No other word in the list uses exactly the letters E, A and U.

EAU is French for water, as in eau de toilette. Its plural is EAUX, with the X.

• Vowel-only words

Tileside keeps score, checks words like this one during a challenge, tracks the tiles left in the bag and times turns. It runs in your phone's browser with no account and works offline.

Tileside checks words against the North American list, the NASPA Word List 2023. Your group's chosen dictionary always wins.

Works with the Scrabble board game, played at the table. Tileside is an independent product, not affiliated with or endorsed by the makers of Scrabble.