By
Solomon Golomb, A&S '51
/
Published
Summer 2012
Here are six words in each of eight groups. The words in each group can undergo a systematic change, unique to that group, that turns them into new words with new meanings. See how many of these transformations you can discover. (Changes may involve rearranging and/or adding letters.)
| Group 1 |
Group 2 |
Group 3 |
Group 4 |
| deliver |
barker |
earth |
astern |
| emit |
brad |
easel |
late |
| lived |
carve |
leaf |
mission |
| parts |
clam |
reef |
motion |
| repel |
diary |
ring |
quality |
| warts |
warp |
trips |
rode |
| Read backward to get: reviled, time, devil, strap, leper, straw. |
Interchange second and third letters to get: braker, bard, crave, calm, dairy, wrap. |
Bring last letter to the front to get: heart, lease, flea, free, grin, strip |
Precede with 'e' to get: eastern, elate, emission, emotion, equality, erode. |
| Group 5 |
Group 6 |
Group 7 |
Group 8 |
| bull |
bet |
broth |
be |
| cigar |
greed |
mist |
lout |
| corn |
isle |
moth |
lover |
| intern |
spire |
numb |
plunder |
| skill |
venue |
should |
trash |
| toil |
verse |
wand |
weight |
| Adjoin 'et' to get: bullet, cigaret, cornet, internet, skillet, toilet. |
Precede with 'a' to get: abet, agreed, aisle, aspire, avenue, averse. |
Adjoin 'er' to get: brother, mister, mother, number, shoulder, wander. |
Apply pig latin to get: eBay, outlay, overlay, underplay, ashtray, eight-way. (This group uses pig latin by spelling. Using pig latin by pronunciation, we would lose lover/overlay, but could gain wonder/underway.) |
