Yes. MBAQANGA is a valid word.
MBAQANGA is valid in the North American word list used for the Scrabble board game and other crossword tile games.
MBAQANGA is in the NASPA Word List 2023 (NWL2023), the North American list that Tileside uses for challenges and the one used in club and tournament play.
About MBAQANGA
MBAQANGA is a style of South African popular music that grew up in the townships in the 1960s, mixing Zulu vocal styles with electric guitars and a driving bass; its plural is MBAQANGAS. The word comes from Zulu. It starts with an M and a B together, which is unusual in English, and it uses three A tiles along with the Q, B, N, G and M. At eight letters it can only be played through a tile already on the board.
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MBAQANGA scores 22 points
Before any bonus squares: M 3 + B 3 + A 1 + Q 10 + A 1 + N 1 + G 2 + A 1 = 22. On a double-word square that's 44, on a triple-word 66, and every letter bonus under one of these tiles is applied first.
Hooks: one tile makes a new word
After MBAQANGA (1):
- MBAQANGASform of MBAQANGA: a South African dance music
Place that one tile so it also forms a word in the other direction and both words score.
Longer words from MBAQANGA
Other forms of MBAQANGA (1):
- MBAQANGASform of MBAQANGA: a South African dance music
Same letters, other words
No other word in the list uses exactly the letters M, B, A, Q, A, N, G and A.
Add one tile: words from these letters plus one more
MBAQANGA + S
- MBAQANGASform of MBAQANGA: a South African dance music
Memory tip
MBAQANGA is a style of South African popular music from the townships, with a bouncing bass line.
On these lists
Check words at the table, free
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.
Word list: NASPA Word List 2023, used under license. NASPA Word List 2023 Edition © NASPA 2023. The copy included in this app is licensed for personal use. You may not use it for any commercial purposes.
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.