BrainBashers - Brain Teasers and Puzzles

Difficulty: Medium Puzzle Details

Puzzle Icon A 'complete' word is a word in which every letter, in turn, can be replaced by another to form a new word.

For example, SEND is a complete word because:

   Starting with SEND we can replace the S with an L to make LEND
   Starting with SEND we can replace the E with an A to make SAND
   Starting with SEND we can replace the N with an E to make SEED
   Starting with SEND we can replace the D with a T to make SENT.

Which 2 of the following words are not complete words? Proper nouns (i.e. people's names) are not allowed.

HARD
PORT
DUCK
HANG
BAIL
MAST
THIN
LEAN
FIRE
READ

[Ref: ZSGJ] © Kevin Stone

Answer: HANG and LEAN.

The remaining 8 words can be changed as follows:

HARD >> CARD, HERD, HAND, HARP
PORT >> FORT, PART, POET, PORE
DUCK >> MUCK, DECK, DUSK, DUCT
BAIL >> HAIL, BOIL, BAWL, BAIT
MAST >> CAST, MOST, MALT, MASK
THIN >> SHIN, TWIN, THAN, THIS
FIRE >> HIRE, FARE, FIVE, FIRM
READ >> BEAD, ROAD, REED, REAL

You have to be able to change EVERY letter to make a new word, so from HANG you can change H to make SANG, the A to make HUNG, and the G to make HAND, but you can't change the N to make a new word.