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I am four, but my second can be any of the five, though not sometimes.

  • My first is final.
  • My second often warns of danger.
  • My third is what you are in the middle of right now.
  • My fourth cannot be found.
  • My fifth is what you desire.

What am I?

Bonus: Can you think of any others like me?

Since this has been answered already, I'll include some other examples below. Don't roll over the spoiler box below if you still want to solve the original puzzle on your own.

- BAD BED BID BOD BUD
- BAG BEG BIG BOG BUG (Thanks @Deusovi)
- BALL BELL BILL BOLL BULL
- BAT BET BIT BOT BUT
- FALL FELL FILL FOLL FULL
- FAR FER FIR FOR FUR (Also FYR, but that's a proper noun from the Elder Scrolls games, so maybe shouldn't count.)
- MASS MESS MISS MOSS MUSS (MUSS being an informal spelling of MESS, generally done to hair.)
- MAST MEST MIST MOST MUST MYST (Thanks @APrough, though as noted, MEST and MYST are both proper nouns.)
- PACK PECK PICK POCK PUCK
- PALL PELL PILL POLL PULL
- PAP PEP PIP POP PUP
- PAT PET PIT POT PUT
- TAN TEN TIN TON TUN

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    $\begingroup$ For even more examples, see this answer. $\endgroup$
    – f''
    Jan 25, 2016 at 18:35
  • $\begingroup$ @f'' - Nice! It's a little bit cheating since they just wrote a program and ran it on the complete Scrabble dictionary, but it works. I couldn't think of any with more than 4 letters, though many of the words there are kind of obscure. Should modify it to see if any other 'Y' examples exist... $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 25, 2016 at 18:55

3 Answers 3

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You're

L_ST.
Last is final; lest means "with the intention of preventing"; I am in the middle of a list; something lost cannot be found; lust is desire.

And for another example;

BAG, BEG, BIG, BOG, BUG is another series that works like this.

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  • $\begingroup$ This is correct, and the bonus one set I didn't have before. I currently have 5 other sets, two with 3 letters and three with 4. I'm hoping to find one that can also use 'Y'... $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 24, 2016 at 21:46
  • $\begingroup$ Make that 12. I've tested all 3-letter combinations. 4- and 5- are a bit trickier, but currently seven 3-letter and five 4-letter sets pass my spellchecker, including all the ones listed here so far... $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 24, 2016 at 22:06
  • $\begingroup$ Why vowels, though? There is no indication of vowels anywhere in the question. $\endgroup$
    – cst1992
    Jan 25, 2016 at 10:32
  • $\begingroup$ @cst: That's the key insight. "My second can be one of five" - specifically, five vowels. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi ♦
    Jan 25, 2016 at 11:13
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    $\begingroup$ @cst1992: Also the "not sometimes" line was a clue that it doesn't work with the "sometimes-vowel" 'Y'. I could've been more explicit, but I didn't want to make it too easy. (Even as it was, it still took a lot less time than I'd hoped for someone to figure it out...) $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 25, 2016 at 14:11
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Though Deusovi got the answer, I thought I would give you one for the bonus, and it works with "Y" as well. Though it does use 2 proper names, but nothing above excludes that.

MAST, MEST (punk rock band), MIST, MOST, MUST, MYST (computer game from the 90's)

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  • $\begingroup$ Ah, well if we're including proper nouns, there's a bunch more that I could've added. Though I'll give props for finding one that works with 'Y'. I've only got one other example that does that - though it also requires a proper noun from a video game for the 'Y'. (The other 5 are all non-proper though.) $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 25, 2016 at 17:09
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Another example:

TAN, TEN, TIN, TON and TUN*

*This is a word, see here if you don't believe me

and

BALL, BELL, BILL, BOLL and BULL

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  • $\begingroup$ Those are two of the sets I'd found already (in addition to the one in the puzzle). I have 3 others. $\endgroup$
    – Darrel Hoffman
    Jan 24, 2016 at 21:47

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