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Here is a list of words.

Mother
Clam
Game
Anagram
Immune
Maximum
Image

In each word, there is an indication on how to read a secret word.
But some words gave a false indication and should be ignored.
Can you find the secret word?

NOTE
If this proves to be harder than expected, some hints will be added after a while.

HINT

All these words have something obvious in common which act as an indicator of how to read the secret word.
Some of these words are slightly different in the way they give that hint and should be ignored.
You must find in what way the indications are telling you how to read the secret word.

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    $\begingroup$ It would seem that my attempt at making the community happy by spending a lot of my time just for making a puzzle for them has blown in my face again... I would appreciate if you guys could at least leave a comment when you downvote... Some people should really take the time to think about how much effort was put into making a puzzle and realize they made it for the enjoyment of others before being so quick to downvote. Making the few puzzle makers ragequit will only result in the community dying by getting no more new puzzles. Be useful people, leave comments instead. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 7:22
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    $\begingroup$ Not a downvoter, neither a closevoter, but at the moment, your puzzle seems a bit broad. I mean, you gave us 7 words, and basically told us to use them or not in order to find another word, nothing more. $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Nov 21, 2016 at 9:40
  • $\begingroup$ @IAmInPLS Thank you for your comment. I know my puzzles won't be perfect, it's not like it's my profession or anything. So I hope for many comments to improve myself. Downvotes just makes me demotivated and doesn't improve my puzzles in anyway. If my puzzle is too broad, I will add a hint. although I thought the comment I gave to Rubio would have been a huge hint already $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 9:54
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    $\begingroup$ Don't worry, we all had our downvotes! Don't let them demotivate you :-) $\endgroup$
    – IAmInPLS
    Nov 21, 2016 at 9:56

4 Answers 4

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The answer is

Magic

Explanation:

First letters of the words indicated by the position of the letter m in each word. Words with more than one m should be ignored.
Mother - 1 --> M
Clam - 4 --> A
Game - 3 --> G
Anagram 7 --> I
Immune (ignore, more than one M)
Maximum (ignore, more than one M)
Image 2 --> C

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    $\begingroup$ Good job! You got it. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 13:12
  • $\begingroup$ I do not really get it... I understand how you get from the word to the number but how do you get to the letter? $\endgroup$
    – geisterfurz007
    Nov 21, 2016 at 16:11
  • $\begingroup$ @stackreader This is a great puzzle concept! A little feedback, as to how you might have made the puzzle a little less ambiguous: Provide some hints to the letter "M" in the title, or in some flavourtext before the actual puzzle. Expecting people to figure out that they need to use the letter "M" is stretching a little. $\endgroup$
    – GentlePurpleRain
    Nov 21, 2016 at 16:14
  • $\begingroup$ @GentlePurpleRain Thanks for the feedback. I guess I just expected that it being the only letter in common to every words would stand out and that any hints would be a dead give away. Puzzles always seems so easy by the point of view of the maker. It's sometimes hard to understand the real level of difficulty. Especially since 90% of my puzzles tend to get solved within 3-5 views lol $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 16:26
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    $\begingroup$ @stackreader I totally understand the desire to make sure your puzzle is hard enough not to be solved right away. But you should also be aware of the many-eyes effect. $\endgroup$
    – GentlePurpleRain
    Nov 21, 2016 at 16:31
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This is hard to qualify, but:

Every word seems to have some variant of the word 'mother' (mum, ma).

Except with

Clam, Game, Immune, Anagram: these words have 'ma' hidden backwards, so they are kind of the exceptions?

Which leads me to conclude

Mum's the word, which seems fitting given that this saying is usually used to mean 'to keep a secret'.

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  • $\begingroup$ +1 That was quite an interesting attempt. Although the reverse ma is stretching it a bit too much. Unfortunately it's way off the mark. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 6:43
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    $\begingroup$ But... but... MOTHER!!!!! $\endgroup$
    – Xenocacia
    Nov 21, 2016 at 6:53
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Possibly too broad, since we can ignore some of the words.

I can find a word that fits a pattern, thus:

All words have the letter m. If I assume the indicator is “a letter preceding an m” and, if the first letter of a list word is an “m” then the “preceding” letter is the last letter of that word, then I have:

Mother → R
Clam → A
Game → A
Anagram → A
Immune → I and/or M
Maximum → M, I, and/or U
Image → I

Now I can ignore words that I decide are a false indicator, so ... ignoring the ones struck through, and taking all remaining letters, I have
RAIMI because you're clearly a fan of his work.

Or, I can get rid of Mother and Image as well, and now I have
AIM

Nothing in the puzzle precludes these, though they're certainly not the intended answer.

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    $\begingroup$ +1 You are on to something. It seems you found the "indication" within every word. But you still have to find why some indications are wrong and must be ignored. Also what the "indication" is "indicating" is is not the previous letter. Also, who is Raimi and why am I a fan? XD $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 6:39
  • $\begingroup$ Sam Raimi directs/produces some pretty awesome films - isn't everyone a fan? ;-) $\endgroup$
    – Rubio ♦
    Nov 21, 2016 at 6:55
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Is it(This is most probbably off the track :D ) -

The secret word can be read by opening and closing of the lip.

Words that fit -

Clam
Game
Anagram
Maximum

One which don't

Image
Mother
Immune

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2
  • $\begingroup$ That's an interesting observation. Although yes, quite off the track. Also what is the secret word? The goal is to find the secret word after all :P Not just the way to find it. $\endgroup$
    – stack reader
    Nov 21, 2016 at 10:29
  • $\begingroup$ I thought may be this opening and closing of the lip might end up having a term for it :P $\endgroup$
    – Techidiot
    Nov 21, 2016 at 10:32

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