# Guess the words from internal letter sequences **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 3, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855 "2000-12-03T19:55:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/1 "2000-12-03T19:55:12Z")
The GQ thread about the word game “ghost” got me thinking about my collection of unusual letter sequences. For the last five years or so, whenever I come across a word that contains such a sequence I write it down. For example, the sequences **ugu** and **mmk** seem a little strange at first sight, but the first actually occurs in a fair number of English words (e.g., j **ugu** lar, a **ugu** ry, ina **ugu** ration), and the second in a few unusual words (e.g., du **mmk** off, and kru **mmk** ake). The list below has some unusual letter sequences, some easier than others. See if you can identify the word in each case. Except where noted, I believe there is only one common English word (plus related forms) for each of these sequences. You may use a print dictionary to help you if you like, but you are on your honor not to use any electronic media (electronic dictionaries, search engines, etc.) Warning: Some of these words sometimes are, or formerly were, hyphenated. To the best of my knowledge all these words are normally unhyphenated in modern American usage.[ol][li]ACHH[/li][li]AKNE (2 unrelated words)[/li][li]ANKRO[/li][li]CHCL[/li][li]CHSH[/li][li]EDTI[/li][li]HOSTW[/li][li]IERINE[/li][li]IJIN[/li][li]LKLO[/li][li]OWWO (2 unrelated common words and several less common words)[/li][li]SHH[/li][li]STTRA[/li][li]TCHH[/li][li]UDGM[/ol][/li]In addition, each of the four sequences below occur in only one English word (and related forms), but these are not common words. I did not go out looking for unusual letter sequences. I came across these words by accident through my reading over the years. I happen to know what these words mean, but I don’t expect everyone to. If you are already familiar with these words, they shouldn’t be too hard. If not, they will be damn nigh impossible. [list=16] [li]GZW[/li][li]RNDL[/li][li]YZG[/li][li]YZY[/LIST][/li]And my favorite of all, which I read unhyphenated in a book, but which is not to be found unhyphenated in any of my dictionaries [list=20][li]UEEY[/list]If you think you know the answer to one or more of these, shout it out.[/li] If you have puzzlers of your own along these lines, please share them. I collect these sequences, but I don’t get much practice identifying the words from the sequences alone. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/2 "2000-12-03T20:02:10Z")
1. Beachhead 2. Breakneck 3. Bankroll 4. Beachcloth? 5. 6. Bedtime 7. Ghostwriter 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Fasttrack 14. 15. 16. 17. 18 19. 20. Blue-eyed ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/3 "2000-12-03T20:05:53Z")
1. Glow-worm 2. Fishhook ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/4 "2000-12-03T20:08:29Z")
Oh, if you like puzzles, the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters – [GCHQ](http://www.gchq.gov.uk) – has a puzzle hidden on its website. They almost guarantee a job interview to anyone who solves it. I doubt any Americans would be eligible, since it’s the UK electronic intelligence gathering organisation, but it could be interesting nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![McMurphy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e19adc/32.png) [@McMurphy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/McMurphy)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/5 "2000-12-03T20:14:40Z")
1. conch-shell ??? 2. Folklore 3. Matchhead 4. All I can get for this is Gr **udgem** atch, are you sure you didn’t make a typo? 5. Syzygy (sp?) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Man\_Who](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c2a13f/32.png) [@The\_Man\_Who](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Man_Who)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/6 "2000-12-03T20:29:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*my collection of unusual letter sequences. > > You may use a print dictionary to help you if you like, but you are on your honor not to use any electronic media \*\* Consider me honorable. ACHH - Beachhouse probably is two words or hyphenated, huh? AKNE (2 unrelated words) - breakneck ANKRO - bankroll CHCL - CHSH - EDTI - bedtime HOSTW - ghostwriter IERINE - IJIN - hijinks LKLO - folklore OWWO (2 unrelated common words and several less common words) - powwow SHH STTRA TCHH - hitchhike UDGM - judgment, although j-u-d-g-e-m-e-n-t is becoming quite a common spelling these days. > [@](#): > > **The Harder ones:** GZW RNDL YZG YZY - syzygy > [@](#): > > **And my favorite of all, which I read unhyphenated in a book, but which is not to be found unhyphenated in any of my dictionaries** UEEY - blueeyed > [@](#): > > **If you think you know the answer to one or more of these, shout it out.** Consider it done. 🙂 > [@](#): > > **If you have puzzlers of your own along these lines, please share them. I collect these sequences, but I don’t get much practice identifying the words from the sequences alone.** If I think of any, I’ll post them here. I seem to recall Lewis Carroll was a fan of this type of puzzle. Fun post, bibliophage. Thanks for sharing. Please post the answers to the hard one after a reasonable time. 🙂 Cordially, Myron M. Meyer The Man Who ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/7 "2000-12-03T21:49:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by bibliophage \* > \*\*[ol] > [li]SHH=SHHHHHHHHH![/li][li]STTRA=fasttrack[/li][li]TCHH=hitchhiker[/li][li]UDGM=judgment[/li][/ol] > \*\* How about: [ol] [li]NSHI[/li][li]BOI[/li][li]GEYE[/li][li]TCHST[/li]PTI[/ol] ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/8 "2000-12-03T21:54:54Z")
1. Gunship 2. Boiled? 3. 4. Watchstrap 5. Cryptic ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/9 "2000-12-03T22:04:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > \*\*1. Gunship > 2. Boiled? > 3. > 4. Watchstrap > 5. Cryptic \*\* None of those is the one I was thinking of for each, but yeah . . . I guess those work:) Hmm . . . GHTA OWBE DVAR TEBO BJE DROPH TOGL ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/10 "2000-12-03T22:42:35Z")
1-3: beachhead, breakneck, bankroll. Points to **mattk** There remains another -akne- word, probably more common than breakneck. 4: not beachcloth, which is not in my dictionairies 5: not conch-shell, which is not in my dictionaries. Good guess, though. 6-7: bedtime, ghostwriter. Points to **mattk** 8: I thought this one might be a stumper. 9: hijinks. Point to **The Man Who** 10: folklore. Point to **The Voice of Reason** 11: powwow. Point to **The Man Who**. glowworm. point to **mattk**. The less common ones are yellowwood, slowworm, swallowwort, and bowwow (the last is usually hyphenated). 12: fishhook. Point to **mattk** 13: fasttrack certainly isn’t the one I was thinking of. It is always either hyphenated or two separate words, according to my dictionaries, so it is out. The one I was thinking of is unhypenated in the American Heritage Dictionary but hyphenated in the New Shorter Oxford. 14-15: hitchhike and judgment. Point to **The Man Who**. Matchhead is not in my dictionaries. 16: I never heard of this word until 6 months ago. It would probably be considered jargon. 17: I thought this one would be pretty easy, because it’s so unusual. 18. Not your everyday sort of word. 19: syzygy. Point to **The Voice of Reason** 20: blueeyed. I’m surprised you guys got it so fast. Point to **mattk** The standings (unless I counted wrong): mattk: 8 (it pays to post first) The Man Who: 4 The Voice of Reason: 2 iampunha: posted a little too late. Yes, I do plan to give the rest of the answers eventually if nobody gets them. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/11 "2000-12-03T22:58:48Z")
17 – dirndl ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/12 "2000-12-03T23:09:26Z")
One point to **Fretful Porpentine** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by iampunha \* > \*\* > NSHI-moonshine > BOI-boisterous > GEYE-bugeyed?? (ought to be hypenenated, I know) > TCHST-matchstick > PTI-aptitude > GHTA-sightable (rare), sought-after (hyphenated) > OWBE-cowbell > DVAR > TEBO > BJE-abject > DROPH drop hammer?? (two words) > TOGL \*\* ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/13 "2000-12-03T23:12:44Z")
DVAR- aardvark ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/14 "2000-12-03T23:16:10Z")
TOGL- togless?? (rare) ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/15 "2000-12-03T23:33:59Z")
TEBO – notebook DROPH – hydrophone ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/16 "2000-12-03T23:46:41Z")
STTRA – Dust-trap? Dust-trail? ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/17 "2000-12-03T23:47:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > \*\*DROPH – hydrophone – > \*\* Oh, of course. HYDRO. I was looking through all my dictionaries for androphile, androphobia, etc… -droph- could also be hydrophobia. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 3, 2000, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/18 "2000-12-03T23:54:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by mattk \* > \*\*STTRA – Dust-trap? Dust-trail? > > \*\* Nope. Dust-trap is hyphenated, and my dictionaries don’t have dust-trail. British posters **may** be at a disadvantage on this one. I hear the word most often heard as part of a three-word phrase. I don’t know if the phrase is in common use on the other side of the pond. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/19 "2000-12-04T00:22:53Z")
I can’t find word #4 (-CHCL-) in the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, which is odd. I thought it was a fairly common word, and it does show up in the other 4 dictionaries I consulted. In fact, all 4 of these dictionaries have two spellings for the word, either of which will fit. ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2000, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855/20 "2000-12-04T01:10:36Z")
GHTA - hightail TOGL may keep me up all night, though. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/guess-the-words-from-internal-letter-sequences/43855.md?page=2)