The letters X and Z are friends. They’re two of the highest-scoring letters in both Scrabble and Words With Friends. Even better, unlike the solitary J or codependent Q (Q’s fixation on U verges on unhealthy, but Q does get out and make other friends sometimes) they actually occur in several words together. Read and inwardly digest this list of 49 valuable words with X and Z to make sure those letters are out stacking points, instead of stuck in your hand.
Words Containing Both X and Z
Whether you're on the hunt as a Scrabble word finder or you need some Words With Friends help to best your foes, we've got you covered with these X and Z words to play.
3-Letter Words
ZAX - A tool for cutting roofing slates.
5-Letter Words
ZAXES - More than one tool for cutting roofing slates, gasp!
7-Letter Words
OXAZINE - One of thirteen chemical compounds with a particular arrangement of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and oxygen atoms.
OXIDIZE - To chemically unite with oxygen. If your car is rusting, it’s oxidizing. If it’s on fire, it’s oxidizing quickly.
8-Letter Words
EXAHERTZ - A quintillion hertz. That’s (deep breath) 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 cycles per second.
EXORCIZE - To cast out an evil spirit. Occasionally carried out in the presence of pea soup and Max von Sydow.
MAXIMIZE - To make as large as possible.
OXAZEPAM - A medication used to treat anxiety and alcohol withdrawal.
OXAZINES - That carbon/hydrogen/nitrogen/oxygen thing, but more of them.
OXIDIZED - Past tense of “oxidize.”
OXIDIZER - That which causes something to oxidize.
OXIDIZES - Present tense singular of “oxidize.”
9-Letter Words
DEOXIDIZE - To remove oxygen from a chemical compound; to reduce.
EPOXIDIZE - In chemistry, either to convert a compound into an epoxide, or to react or treat one with an epoxide.
EXOENZYME - In biology, any enzyme produced within a cell, that functions outside that cell.
EXORCIZED - Past tense and past participle of “exorcize.” In other words, remember when you and Max von Sydow drove that evil spirit out of your toaster yesterday? Right on, you exorcized that sucker.
EXORCIZER - And, once you drove out that evil spirit, you became an exorcizer, one who drives out evil spirits.
EXORCIZES - Now that you’re an exorcizer, you might build a rep as someone who drives out evil spirits.
EXPERTIZE - To give an expert opinion on the genuineness or value of something.
MAXIMIZED - To be made as large as possible. You want your bank account maximized. You don’t want your credit card debt maximized.
MAXIMIZER - Someone or something that makes a thing as large as possible.
MAXIMIZES - When someone make a thing as big as possible. A maximizer maximizes, and so a thing is maximized.
OXAZEPAMS - More than one of a medication used to treat anxiety and alcohol withdrawal.
OXIDIZERS - In chemistry, more than one of something that causes something else to oxidize.
OXIDIZING - In chemistry, if something is uniting with oxygen, it’s oxidizing.
REOXIDIZE - In chemistry, to oxidize again, typically after a period of reduction.
SEXUALIZE - To endow (see what we did there?) with sexual significance. (By using the phrase “see what we did there?” we sexualized the word endow.)
TEXTURIZE - To add a desired texture to.
10-Letter Words
AXIOMATIZE - To establish fundamental, broadly accepted concepts, or axioms, that govern a given set of phenomena.
DEOXIDIZED - In chemistry, a compound with some or all oxygen removed is deoxidized.
DEOXIDIZER - Someone or something that causes deoxidizing.
DEOXIDIZES - In chemistry, when a compound loses oxygen, it deoxidizes.
EPOXIDIZED - In chemistry, when a compound has been converted to an epoxide, or has reacted or been treated with an epoxide, it has epoxidized.
EPOXIDIZES - In chemistry, when a compound is converting to an epoxide, or is reacting or being treated with an epoxide, it epoxidizes.
EXOENZYMES - In biology, more than one enzyme produced inside a cell, that functions outside that cell.
EXORCIZERS - More than one person driving out evil spirits. LIke you and Max von Sydow, when you handled the Toaster of Doom.
EXORCIZING - Driving out spirits, as with your now demon-free toaster.
EXPERTIZED - To have given an expert opinion on the genuineness or value of a valuable item.
EXPERTIZES - Offers an expert opinion on a valuable item.
LEXICALIZE - We’re lexicalizing right now! To lexicalize can mean to express a concept using words (that’s us), to add an expression to a language as a word, or to combine multiple words into a single word.
MAXIMIZERS - More than one person or thing that makes something else as large as possible.
MAXIMIZING - Becoming as large as possible.
OXIDIZABLE - In chemistry, capable of being oxidized.
REOXIDIZED - In chemistry, something that has reunited with oxygen after deoxidizing has reoxidized.
REOXIDIZES - In chemistry, when something is reuniting with oxygen, that thing reoxidizes.
SEXUALIZED - To have endowed something with sexual significance.
SEXUALIZES - Endows something with sexual significance.
TEXTURIZED - To have had a desired texture added.
TEXTURIZES - Adds a desired texture to something.
High-Scoring Possibilities
High-value letters can be beautiful nuisances, filling up your hand with high-point possibilities but often offering no chance of playing them. Learn as many words that have Z and X as you can and put those high-toned freeloaders to work. For more, see our lists of words that begin with, end with and contain the letters X or Z for whenever you need to unscramble letters for big points.
Matt Salter has been a professional writer for over 10 years. He is a gaming and technology expert, and world-class word nerd.
