Here are the 50 most played 3-letter words in Scrabble when the SOWPODS official tournament word list is used. The words are presented in playrank order, meaning QIS is the most played 3-letter word, QAT is the second most played, and so on down the list.
1. qis
2. qat
3. ide
4. exo
5. axe
6. awe
7. ene
8. azo
9. owe
10. ere
11. ate
12. ita
13. eta
14. are
15. zag
16. ado
17. eme
18. ode
19. obe
20. jai
21. one
22. oxo
23. ope
24. obi
25. oda
26. joe
27. ahi
28. ore
29. ewe
30. ane
31. ono
32. aye
33. ami
34. jar
35. ute
36. emo
37. ana
38. zoa
39. aba
40. ire
41. jor
42. ure
43. abo
44. ago
45. eft
46. xis
47. nye
48. zap
49. oye
50. zoo
Very serious Scrabble players will need to memorize ALL the legal 3-letter words, but for intermediate level players it's best to start by memorizing the most often played 3-letter words before progressing to learning all of them.
This list is original research from ScrabbleGuru. Come visit us for more!