diff --git a/xwords4/android/scripts/check_strings.py b/xwords4/android/scripts/check_strings.py
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..563b6939f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/xwords4/android/scripts/check_strings.py
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+#!/usr/bin/python
+
+import re, sys, os, getopt
+from lxml import etree
+
+g_formats = {}
+
+def usage(msg=''):
+    print
+    if not '' == msg: print 'Error:', msg
+    print "usage:", sys.argv[0]
+    print "   Compares all files res/values-??/strings.xml with res/values/strings.xml"
+    print "   and makes sure they're legal: same format strings, etc."
+    sys.exit(1)
+
+
+def associate( formats, name, fmt ):
+    if name in formats:
+        forName = formats[name]
+    else:
+        forName = set()
+        formats[name] = forName
+    if fmt in forName: 
+        print "Warning: %s duplicated in %s" % (fmt, name)
+    forName.add(fmt)
+    # print 'added', fmt, 'to', name
+
+def checkFormats( formats ):
+    for name in formats:
+        curSet = formats[name]
+        testSet = set()
+        for digit in range(1, 9):
+            foundDigit = False
+            for spec in ['s', 'd']:
+                fmt = '%' + str(digit) + '$' + spec
+                if fmt in curSet: 
+                    foundDigit = True
+                    testSet.add(fmt)
+                    break
+            if not foundDigit:
+                break
+        if curSet == testSet:
+            print name, "is ok"
+        else:
+            print 'ERROR: sets different for', name, curSet, testSet
+            sys.exit(1)
+
+def main():
+    if 1 < len(sys.argv): usage()
+
+    wd = os.path.dirname(sys.argv[0])
+    path = wd + '/../XWords4/res/values/strings.xml'
+
+    # Load English
+    engFormats = {}
+    parser = etree.XMLParser(remove_blank_text=True, encoding="utf-8")
+    doc = etree.parse(path, parser)
+    pat = re.compile( '(%\d\$[sd])', re.DOTALL | re.MULTILINE )
+    for typ in ['string', 'item']:
+        for elem in doc.findall(typ):
+            splits = re.split( pat, elem.text )
+            nParts = len(splits)
+            if 1 < nParts:
+                for ii in range(nParts):
+                    part = splits[ii]
+                    if re.match( pat, part ):
+                        associate( engFormats, elem.get('name'), part )
+    checkFormats( engFormats )
+
+    for subdir, dirs, files in os.walk(path):
+        for file in [file for file in files if file == "strings.xml" \
+                     and not subdir.endswith('/values')]:
+            print file, subdir
+
+
+
+##############################################################################
+if __name__ == '__main__':
+    main()