21
$\begingroup$

My niece gave me this word wheels challenges the other day and I comes up with an alternative. Here's how this challenge works:

Find a word that can form another word by moving its first letter to the end of the word, or vice versa.

Example:

EMIT
MITE
ITEM

Until you can no longer form another word. Here's the rule:

  • Must be a word found in dictionary, or a common name.
  • Must be at least 3 letters long.
  • Must have at least 1 rotation.
  • Plural form (end with s) counts as 1 rotation only if you can form another word afterward.
  • Please don't be like my niece and use the example as an answer...

Scoring:

  • 1 point for each letter used ("emit" will has 4 points)
  • 1.5 point for each 'rotation' it can have ("emit" has 2 rotations, thus 3 points)
  • 1 point if the word can be loop infinitely.

Highest score wins.

This challenge will remains open for at least 2 days.

Time's up!

Highest score:
Dr Xorile - 11.5
Engineer Toast - 11.5

Base on the time the answer is submitted, Dr. Xorile will be the winner of this challenge! There are some creative answers which I like much! Thanks for everyone's participation.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
11
  • $\begingroup$ So, the question is? :D $\endgroup$
    – Gintas K
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:21
  • 9
    $\begingroup$ Technically "antidisestablishmentarianism" is worth 28 points. You might want to set a minimum number of rotations or lower/eliminate the weighting for length, or even without this loophole the question will become "what's the longest word you can put 's' in front of". $\endgroup$
    – Zandar
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:46
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ Imho, a short word that loops infinitely should be worth more than a long word that loops once or twice. $\endgroup$
    – Carl
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 20:34
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ @Adeptus I was wondering if I should reword that... "ate" is an infinite loop of three letters, so it's worth 3 times the amount of iterations, 3 squared. Plus the 4.5 makes it 13.5. Again, it's just an example of my hypothetical. $\endgroup$
    – Carl
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 2:58
  • 4
    $\begingroup$ I’m voting to close this question because without better defining "word" or "common name" it turns into an ill-defined, open-ended puzzle (and open-ended puzzles are off-topic as of May 2019) $\endgroup$
    – bobble
    Commented Aug 15, 2021 at 23:22

9 Answers 9

Reset to default
15
$\begingroup$

So the obvious "trick" for getting around the plural thing is to use a past-tense:

denunciate -> enunciated gives 11.5

is the best I could find. In a similar vein:

devaluate -> evaluated gives 10.5

If you avoid this trick, then there are other options:

trusties -> rustiest gives 9.5

Although this all works with the scoring system, I think the prettiest answer so far was given by @gannolloy

stripe -> tripes -> ripest (9.0)

The only other one I can think of that's similar is:

stable -> tables -> ablest (9.0)

I'm struggling to find anything that has more rotations apart from 3 letter words (ate->tea->eat; asp->spa->pas (which is a bit weak)). I can't find anything longer than the two above.

I quite like this one which is one letter shorter:

route-> outer->utero (8.0 points)

because it doesn't use any "s" or "d" at all! Similar, but not as good (imho) are:

amass->massa->assam (if that second word is not too politically incorrect), and saver->avers->versa

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
7
  • $\begingroup$ What are trusties? $\endgroup$
    – Strawberry
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 16:43
  • $\begingroup$ Apparently it's a word $\endgroup$
    – mbomb007
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 16:45
  • 10
    $\begingroup$ It's the name I give to my favourite underpants $\endgroup$
    – Strawberry
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 17:00
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ I won't add sear to my answer in full, for reasons that will become clear to anyone willing to work through the two rotations... $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 17:05
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I suppose invitee and e-invite is unacceptable? $\endgroup$
    – Hugh Meyers
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 20:04
9
$\begingroup$

STRIPE > TRIPES > RIPEST

6 + 3 = 9

Also, if names can be used:

ESTON > STONE > TONES > ONEST

5 + 4.5 = 9.5 (Eston is a town in England)

Also, just for fun (Probably invalid):

SHIRE > HIRES > IRESH (Name of Indian/Hindu Origin) > RESHI (A people from a book series The Stormlight Archive) > ESHIR (A type of werewolf creature from the game Summoners War) > SHIRE

5 + 7.5 + 1 = 13.5. Conclusion: if you google anything you will find a result

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
8
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ onest? I'll be 'onest - that's a pretty old word! $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 17:03
  • $\begingroup$ Your last one would actually be 5 + 4*1.5 + 1 = 12! $\endgroup$
    – charfellow
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 18:21
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I am not a smart man. $\endgroup$
    – gannolloy
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 18:24
  • $\begingroup$ @charfellow: not true: there are 5 rotations. The correct value is 13.5. $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 14:41
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @IanMacDonald They work because they have another rotation after. That rule is just to prevent people from using a long word that starts with s and then moving it to the end and getting a ton of points. If you have another rotation after that its a valid set, at least by my understanding. $\endgroup$
    – gannolloy
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 15:33
7
$\begingroup$

ATE -> TEA -> EAT -> ATE

So $3+4.5+1=8.5$

And a non-looping word:

STRAPPING -> TRAPPINGS

10.5

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
3
  • $\begingroup$ Not sure if the rules are 100% clear - is the botton suggestion valid in regards to "plural form (end with s) counts as 1 rotation only if you can form another word afterward." ? $\endgroup$
    – whirlwin
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 16:32
  • $\begingroup$ i always thought a 'trapping' looked a bit silly, so its singular, but check out ELU. $\endgroup$
    – JMP
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 8:26
  • $\begingroup$ There are some words that don't have a singular form (or said form is never used.) 'Pants' is another good example. Trappings is definitely plural, and in fact has a singular form, according to m-w: merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trapping $\endgroup$
    – Tin Wizard
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 17:58
5
$\begingroup$

STOPPING -> TOPPINGS

8 + 1.5 = 9.5

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I upvoted this answer as it appears before I added the 4th rule; Please don't downvote it for violating the rules. $\endgroup$
    – Alex
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:56
5
$\begingroup$

This is not a higher score than the current highest but it is a lot more examples of that score.

All words are 11.5 points (10 letters, 1 rotation)

enucleated => denucleate   
enunciated => denunciate

Words that break the plural rule:

crumplings => scrumpling   
crunchings => scrunching   
educements => seducement     
lumberings => slumbering   
motherings => smothering   
omniphobes => somniphobe   
peculators => speculator   
tablemates => stablemate   
totterings => stottering   
tricklings => strickling   
wallowings => swallowing   
witherings => swithering   
wordmakers => swordmaker
Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
5
  • $\begingroup$ Except that 13 of them break the plural rule! $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 20:47
  • $\begingroup$ @DrXorile That's what I get for not reading very carefully. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 21:01
  • $\begingroup$ You've also got a better word list than I do! $\endgroup$
    – Dr Xorile
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 22:03
  • $\begingroup$ @DrXorile Litscape. I'd give a link but I'm on mobile. It's very useful for puzzles like this. $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented May 4, 2016 at 23:05
  • $\begingroup$ @DrXorile OK, here's the subpage I actually used from Litscape $\endgroup$
    – Engineer Toast
    Commented May 5, 2016 at 12:19
3
$\begingroup$

Here are some fun ones

emanate -> manatee

7 + 1.5 = 8.5 pts

gelatin -> elating

7 + 1.5 = 8.5 pts

height -> eighth

6 + 1.5 = 7.5 pts

khan -> hank -> ankh

4 + 1.5 * 2 = 7 pts

Clever 's' ones

slaughter -> laughters
swordplay -> wordplays
slowdown -> lowdowns

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
$\begingroup$

STARE -> TARES -> AREST

$5+3=8$

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ Do you mean "arrest"? $\endgroup$
    – Alex
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 15:42
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ I think "Arest" is a valid word: thefreedictionary.com/Arest $\endgroup$
    – whirlwin
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 16:06
2
$\begingroup$

This uses an archaic word, so you might want to limit that use...

STANG --> TANGS --> ANGST

For 5 + 3 = 8

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ "archaic"??? my 5L V8 begs to differ $\endgroup$
    – question_asker
    Commented May 3, 2016 at 16:33
1
$\begingroup$

EAR -> ARE

$3+ 1.5 => 4.5$

RANGE -> ANGER

$5 + 1.5 => 6.5$

The plural items:

SEAR -> EARS
SCOPE -> COPES
SELECT -> ELECTS
SELECTION -> ELECTIONS

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.