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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it an Area Word™.

Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Area Words™ Not Area Words™
ARC CIRCLE
BUG MOTH
CANDLE LIGHTER
DROP FALL
EARTH WATER
FATHER SISTER
GUAVA BANANA
HEXAGON HEPTAGON
ISLAND IRELAND
JACKAL WOLF
PHONE MOBILE
SANDY BEACH
VINEGAR SODA

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version: (If you copy this text elsewhere, make sure that your font matches the one in the image above.)

Area Words™,Not Area Words™
ARC,CIRCLE
BUG,MOTH
CANDLE,LIGHTER
DROP,FALL
EARTH,WATER
FATHER,SISTER
GUAVA,BANANA
HEXAGON,HEPTAGON
ISLAND,IRELAND
JACKAL,WOLF
PHONE,MOBILE
SANDY,BEACH
VINEGAR,SODA

Bonus: I forgot to mention that my little brother had organised two of the words in their respective incorrect groups of the words. I can, however, confirm that those two words makes another compound word. Can you find that word? :)

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    $\begingroup$ Just to clarify the 'Bonus' remarks: Do you mean that two of the words have been put into the incorrect columns (i.e. one listed as an Area Word is actually not, and one listed as a Not Area Word actually is)? And by 'they make another word', are you able to clarify how you mean - a compound word, an anagram, something relating to an Area Word's property? Thanks! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 16:41
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    $\begingroup$ @Stiv sure, will edit it (it is a compound word, meaning that combining both in a specific order gives another word) . And yes, two words are put in incorrect columns. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 16:42

1 Answer 1

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This is the compound word made of the two incorrectly placed words:

WATERDROP

So here's the rule for Area Word.

Have exactly two "enclosed areas".

The definition is

An "enclosed area" is, well, as it's named, an enclosed area in the word, when written in all UPPERCASE using the Arial font. This gives the letters ADOPQR one enclosed area each, and the letter B two.

All words on the left column have 2 enclosed areas, except for DROP which has 4. There's also exactly one word WATER that has 2 enclosed areas.

However, there's one point I'm confused about:

All words on the right column, except for that misplaced one having 2, have an odd number of "enclosed areas", while the wrong one on the left has 4, an even number, which is in line with other words in the same column.

I was expecting an even/odd difference but that's not the case, sadly.

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  • $\begingroup$ Darn it, how so fast? I was expecting to get this solved in some more time. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 17:07
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    $\begingroup$ @Anonymous make sure that your font matches is a huge hint. $\endgroup$
    – iBug
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 17:36
  • $\begingroup$ Hmm, maybe the Title is even a huge(ier) hint. $\endgroup$
    – Anonymous
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 17:38
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    $\begingroup$ @Anonymous To be honest, before noticing that font hint, I was drawing those words over my keyboard (with straight lines) and looking for crossed lines, lol... $\endgroup$
    – iBug
    Commented Feb 9, 2021 at 17:41

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