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Can you think of 5 different 5-letter words which use the same 4 consonants and each word includes one separate vowel?

You must use all 5 vowels. In all 5 words, the 4 consonants and one vowel must be in the same location.

For example the five words could look like

123A4 123E4 123I4 123O4 123U4

Or 1A234 1E234 1I234 1O234 1U234

1, 2, 3, and 4 are separate consonants but every word must use the same 4 at the same locations.

Proper nouns are OK, although a solution without them would be great.

I found at least 1 solution.

Bonus : Is there a sixth word which uses the pseudo-vowel Y??

No computers please, although you can check your word in a reputable dictionary.

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  • $\begingroup$ Just to be clear, if two of the consonants are the same letter, does this invalidate the answer? $\endgroup$
    – TwoBitOperation
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:03
  • $\begingroup$ I found that to be easier than the 4 seperate consonants. There are more solutions with only 3 consonants in a 5 letter word $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:21
  • $\begingroup$ You should probably clarify that you want English words.  Or will you accept words from other languages that use the Roman alphabet (and how do diacritical marks fit in)?  Also, how about three consonants and a (fixed) vowel; e.g., (ROT13) znffrf/zrffrf/zvffrf/zbffrf/zhffrf, as identified by Uri Zarfaty. $\endgroup$
    – Peregrine Rook
    Jul 18, 2018 at 23:14
  • $\begingroup$ l remember seeing a group of words like this, but one of them is a surname, and the words each have six letters instead of five. $\endgroup$
    – Scratch---Cat
    Jul 27, 2020 at 6:58

8 Answers 8

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STACK - a vertical pile
STECK - a surname
STICK - a small piece of broken tree
STOCK - a quantity of items
STUCK - an unfortunate result of licking a metal pole in winter

Let's go ahead and use Google to fill in the blanks on this one (sorry, no-computers tag.):

STALE - the worst kind of bread
STELE - the core of a plant's stem and root (thanks, Google)
STILE - a flow-control mechanism on gates or fences
STOLE - what Maui did with the Heart of Te Fiti
STULE - a surname (thanks, Google)
STYLE - what you forgo when you wear socks with sandals

Even more Googling this time:

The entire list of words with only Y and no repeated letters is: byrls, crypt, glyph, hwyls, hymns, lymph, lynch, myths, nymph, psych, rynds, sylph, synch, synth, wynds.
I'm not sure that any of these can use all five vowels. B_RLS, M_THS, R_NDS, and W_NDS look the best.

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  • $\begingroup$ Anything with Y??? $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 18, 2018 at 14:28
  • $\begingroup$ I had to use Google to assist in the verification of E and U, but rot13(fg_yr) would fit all 5+1. $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jul 18, 2018 at 15:27
  • $\begingroup$ Your second answer looks really good, although rot13(gur ynfg yrggre vf abg n pbafbanag nf erdhverq ol gur dhrfgvba)... $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Jul 18, 2018 at 16:37
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    $\begingroup$ Yeah, I know. Also Google. :) $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jul 18, 2018 at 16:38
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    $\begingroup$ Also, excuse you, socks and sandals are apparently perfectly reasonable now (although people tell me I can never pull that look off!) $\endgroup$
    – El-Guest
    Jul 18, 2018 at 16:49
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I found one

BLIND (not seeing)
BLOND (hair)
BLAND (lacking of something)
BLEND (like in a blender...)
BLUND (someone who doesn't accept defeat)
I am not so sure of BLUND as it isn't in a dictionnary.

And another one with almost the same letters

BINDS (links)
BONDS (money related)
BANDS (music groups)
BENDS (Decompression sickness)
BUNDS (money related - a debt)

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  • $\begingroup$ Blund is iffy @Untitpoi $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 18, 2018 at 12:52
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    $\begingroup$ @DEEM I agree, maybe you should not put the whole word in a comment to avoid spoiler! just saying "the word with U". $\endgroup$
    – Untitpoi
    Jul 18, 2018 at 12:54
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    $\begingroup$ Your second E word: It's a pretty common term for anyone that is familiar with scuba diving. $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:30
  • $\begingroup$ For 'E': or as in 'The board ____ when I stand on it" For 'U': you accidentally copied you def from 'O' Otherwise this looks like a winning answer $\endgroup$
    – TwoBitOperation
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:46
  • $\begingroup$ Changing the first letter of your 2nd solution to "F" results in another valid solution. $\endgroup$
    – slvrbld
    Jul 18, 2018 at 18:56
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New one

P_CKS
PACKS - packs of wolves, packs of cards, ...
PUCKS - the black ice hockey disks
PECKS - what birds do
PICKS - you need to be lucky with these to win the lottery
POCKS - you surely don't want these

Another one (one duplicate consonant)

B_LLS
BILLS - I wish I didn't know what these were...
BALLS - Those round things
BELLS - They can make a lot of noise
BULLS - Animals
BOLLS - a "boll" is the "rounded seed capsule of plants such as cotton or flax".

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  • $\begingroup$ 4 seperate consonents @slvrbid. $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 18, 2018 at 17:43
  • $\begingroup$ Oops, sorry. Overlooked that constraint. I'll try to look for an alternate solution. $\endgroup$
    – slvrbld
    Jul 18, 2018 at 18:00
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I have one:

CHACK - (of a bird) make a harsh call
CHECK - a form of payment / make sure of something
CHICK - a baby bird
CHOCK - a wedge or block placed against a wheel or rounded object, to prevent it from moving
CHUCK - throw / type of steak

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  • $\begingroup$ The four consonants are required to be different, if I'm reading the question correctly. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Jul 18, 2018 at 15:59
  • $\begingroup$ @F1Krazy I don't think you are: "1, 2, 3, and 4 are separate consonants but every word must use the same 4 at the same locations." $\endgroup$
    – mcalex
    Jul 18, 2018 at 16:34
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STANG - by a bee?
STENG - the mast next above a lower mast and topmost in a fore-and-aft rig
STING - by a bee?
STONG - An area of land equivalent to a quarter of an acre.
STUNG - by a bee?

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  • $\begingroup$ I'm not certain "stang" is a word. $\endgroup$
    – anon
    Jul 18, 2018 at 21:56
  • $\begingroup$ I know a fellow who had the last name using the 'a' variant. $\endgroup$
    – Tracy Cramer
    Jul 18, 2018 at 22:33
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B*tch

The uses are:

Batch - as in a batch of cookies. Bitch - a female dog... Botch - to mess something up. Butch - someone considered masculine.

And my favorite:

Blockquote

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    $\begingroup$ I think we'll need additional proof that that last one is actually a word. To me it looks like just a phonetic mis-spelling of one of your other words. $\endgroup$
    – F1Krazy
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:29
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    $\begingroup$ I dunno why the downvotes. I also like that favourite. $\endgroup$
    – Ian MacDonald
    Jul 18, 2018 at 13:31
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Here's one:

Craps - A game of dice
Creps - Informal name of training shoe
Crips - Disabled people
Crops - Cultivated plants that is grown as food
Crups - Mythical being (dog with a forked tail)

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I (almost) have one!

Last - coming after all others in time or order
Lest - with the intention of preventing
List - number of connected items or names
Lost - unable to find one's way
Lust - very strong sexual desire

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  • $\begingroup$ 5 Letter words only @Yuca. But this was very good $\endgroup$
    – DrD
    Jul 18, 2018 at 21:15
  • $\begingroup$ dang, I forgot about that! $\endgroup$
    – Yuca
    Jul 18, 2018 at 21:16

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