Is ILEA a valid word?

ILEA is the plural of ILEUM, the final section of the small intestine. Medical and Latin plurals like ILEA, ILIA and ODEA are a good family to learn, since each clears three vowels with one consonant. Be careful not to mix up ILEUM, part of the gut, with ILIUM, a bone of the hip; both plurals are valid.

Before any bonus squares: I 1 + L 1 + E 1 + A 1 = 4. On a double-word square that's 8, on a triple-word 12, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.

Later in the game, put the I on a 3L square and ILEA is worth 6 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 ILEA and these are still words:

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

ILEA is the plural of ILEUM, the last part of the small intestine.

• Vowel-heavy words

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

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