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Earlier this year we published a series of articles showing different ways to learn words.
Another method is to take a discrete set of words and learn them. This month we will publish 4 discrete alphabet sets for you to learn.
Many of the 'letters' are fairly well known, but there may be a gem or two for you to unearth! In future we will study the Hebrew, Arabic and Greek alphabets.
Firstly the NATO phonetic alphabet.
Here all the words represent a letter from the English language. A couple of the letters have variant spellings this is to help non-English speakers pronounce the word correctly. (For example, the French would typically pronounce 'Juliet' as "Julie-AY" but will pronounce the final 't' sound when a second 't' is added to the end of the word)
Unless otherwise stated ALL words listed below are valid in Scrabble.
Alpha or Alfa
Bravo
Charlie
Delta
Echo
Foxtrot
Golf
Hotel
India
Juliet or Juliett (JULIET is valid, JULIETT is not)
Kilo
Lima
Mike
November
Oscar
Papa
Quebec
Romeo
Sierra
Tango
Uniform
Victor
Whiskey
X-ray or Xray (XRAY is valid, X-RAY is not)
Yankee
Zulu
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Our apologies.
Since our last puzzle, "ITS HOT" based on the hot weather we were experiencing then, Summer seems to have disappeared. We clearly jinxed it. Sorry.
So as a valiant attempt to bring it back again....
What are the 7 letter words you can make with ITSWET and a blank ?
There are quite a few. A reasonable number to find would be between 5 and 10, but there are a few obscure ones too...
Answers below.
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With an A, ITSWET makes TAWIEST, TWAITES
With a D you can make DEWITTS and TWISTED
With an E, WETTIES.
With an H you can make TEWHITS, WETTISH, WHITEST
With a N ENTWIST and TWINSET
With an O, TOWIEST.
With an R, RETWIST, TWISTER, WITTERS
and with a U - WETSUIT.
15 words in all. Well done if you got more than 10.
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From time to time you may find your rack contains rather a lot of consonants, and you may need to play a few of them off to keep a balanced rack. This is relatively straightforward if you have a 'Y' on the rack (hint : that's the next quiz). But what if you have no Y ?
So what are the three letter words containing no vowels or Y ? Answers below. (A small hint, two of them require a blank).
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BRR
CWM
GRR
HMM
MMM
NTH
PHT
PST
PWN
SHH
TSK
TWP
ZZZ
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The letter X is commonly used in the middle or end of a word, but how many 2, 3, 4 and 5 letter words do you know that start with 'X' ?
Here are the answers...
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2s : XI XU
3s : XED XIS (note no XUS !!!)
4s : XRAY XYST
5s: XEBEC XENIA XENIC XENON
XERIC XEROX XERUS XOANA
XRAYS XYLAN XYLEM XYLIC
XYLOL XYLYL XYSTI XYSTS
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Over the last few articles we have shown different methods for learning new words, but probably the method most people use is to learn from others.
Most Scrabble games contain at least one or two challenges. Use these words as the building blocks for learning new words. Last night for instance the words GOOG and SCORIAE were challenged.
GOOG is clearly a back hook for GOO, but what are the others ?
Does SCORIAE anagram to anything else ? What if the C was substituted for a blank – what bonuses can be made ?
It is important to remember that everyone comes with their own history of words.
A gardener would know SEQUOIA, but may not know the medical ILIA. Neither may know a statistician’s word, MEDIANS.
So if these words are challenged.. what associated lists can we make ?
SEQUOIA contains all 5 vowels. Are there any other 7 letter words that do this ?
ILIA contains three vowels including two Is. Are there others ? Are there any useful hooks to ILIA ?
MEDIANS has several anagrams, and contains the letters SANDIE. This is a relatively useful six letter stem, as you can make 38 words if you had SANDIE + a blank.
Reading books and listening/watching radio/TV are useful source of words. If a novel is set in a foreign country, it is likely that indigenous words are used. Think of the song “Waltzing Matilda” and SWAGMAN and BILLABONG immediately spring to mind.
Word learning may sometimes seem to be a random process: learning words by accident as they played against you.
Sometimes words can be learnt by rote, or by using mnemonics, stories or word families.
Find the method which works best for you… and enjoy your learning!
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