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These thirteen English words share a hidden property:

GULLS, FUSION, BOMB, MILLS, DON, FUR, CHAIN, MOCHA, HYMN, WOLFS, MUNCH, PINY, WITS

The list is not complete; there are other words with the same property, but most English words don't fit the pattern. Can you name two other words of at least three letters with the same property?


This puzzle was inspired by Moghwyn's puzzle A Company of Thirteen.

Note: The solution to this puzzle is not related to that solution. The only similarity is that they both contain a group of thirteen words.

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    $\begingroup$ And no, the answer is not that none of the words contain an E $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:04
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    $\begingroup$ Did you mean "WOLVES"? $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:09
  • $\begingroup$ @FollowMyProposals: No, WOLFS as in, "My brother wolfs down his food so fast, you can hardly even see it!" $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 26, 2015 at 23:35
  • $\begingroup$ "DON MILLS" is a community in Toronto. Maybe that has something to do with it? $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Commented Mar 27, 2015 at 0:03
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    $\begingroup$ @JoeZ. There's also a Mills bomb and a fusion bomb ... but we're looking for a property of these words, not links between them! $\endgroup$ Commented Mar 27, 2015 at 0:42

1 Answer 1

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Possible other words include:

AILS, ALUM, BOG, BOY, BUFF, BULLS, BUM, DUG, FILLS, FIN, GOLEM, LION, MIX, SUE, SYNC, WILY, WOMBS

as well as many other more obscure ones.

The property that all of the words have is that

if you increment each letter by 6 (so A→G and Y→E) the resulting string is also an English word. This is also known as a Caesar cipher.

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    $\begingroup$ That's amazing. $\endgroup$
    – user88
    Commented Mar 28, 2015 at 20:15

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