Start with the endings
Most English words end in a small number of ways: -s, -ed, -er, -ing, -ly and a few more. If your letters contain an S, set it aside first, because it can turn a word into its plural or verb form. If you hold E and D, or I, N and G, check whether they complete a word you have already found.
The same works for beginnings. Prefixes such as re-, un-, in- and de- are short and common, and they turn one word into several.
Look for letter groups
Letters that often sit together are easier to see as a unit than as single tiles. Common pairs and triples include TH, SH, CH, ER, IN, ING, ION and ST. Try putting such a group together and then look at the letters that remain.
Take the letters in the word listen. Move L, I and S next to each other and add T, E and N, and you can read silent, enlist, tinsel and inlets from the same seven tiles. Words like these are anagrams: the same letters in another order.
Use a blank tile on purpose
In the unscrambler you can type a question mark for a blank tile. The tool then shows every word that works if that one letter could be anything. This is useful in two ways: to see which words are possible with a blank, and to find out which letter is worth spending a blank on.
With the rack retains you can make seven-letter words such as nastier, retains, retinas, retsina, stainer and stearin. Add a question mark, and many more eight-letter words appear.
Narrow the list with filters
A long list is not always helpful. The filters under the input field let you require that words start with certain letters, end with certain letters or contain a fragment such as QU. You can also set a minimum and maximum length, or tick the option to use all letters, which shows only the anagrams.
In a game, the board usually decides which of these you need. If a word has to use an S that is already on the board, add that S to your letters and use the contains filter.
When you know part of the word
For crosswords and for games where letters are already in place, use the pattern solver. Write the known letters in position and an underscore or question mark for each unknown one, for example s__rt. Use an asterisk for any number of letters: c*t matches every word that starts with c and ends with t.
You can also require letters that occur somewhere in the word and exclude letters you have ruled out. That is how most people use it for Wordle-style puzzles.
Check the answer before you play it
A word list says which words are valid in its sources, not which words a particular game accepts. Games differ, and they also change their dictionaries. For a word you are not sure about, check it in the game itself, or choose the safer word. In English, words shown in light red in the results are rare, regional or archaic. They are valid in some lists but not in every game.
Try the word unscrambler Try the crossword and pattern solver