# How many words can you make out of the same letters?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817
**Category:** Thread Games
**Created:** [January 15, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817 "2019-01-15T19:33:11Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/1 "2019-01-15T19:33:11Z")
Make as many words as you can out of a certain number of letters, using all of the same letters in each word. You choose the letters.
For example: 4 letters, 6 words: O-P-S-T
OPTS
POST
POTS
SPOT
STOP
TOPS
5 letters, 4 words: A-E-G-L-R
GLARE
LAGER
LARGE
REGAL
I’m sure someone can beat these rather easily. Who can come up with the longest list of standard English words for any given number of letters?
You may use the same letter more than once, as long as it’s actually used that many times in each word (such as THREE, ETHER and THERE).
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/2 "2019-01-15T19:44:51Z")
ACERST - 6 letters, 16 words
CAREST - poetic form of Caressed
CARETS - insertion marks used by proofreaders
CARTES - menus
CASTER - a swiveling wheel
CATERS - furnishes food or entertainment
CESTRA - painting tools used in ancient Greece and Rome
CRATES - packing boxes
CREATS - East Indian herbs used medicinally
CRESTA - a famous Swiss sled run
CRETAS - varieties of chalk
REACTS - acts in response to a stimulus
RECAST - to form or fashion anew
SCRETA - Karl Screta, Bohemian painter
STACER - a town in Indiana, near Evansville
TRACES - very small quantities
TRESCA - a kind of romping dance or revel
source: _Language on Vacation_ by Dmitri A. Borgman
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### Author:  [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/3 "2019-01-15T20:25:20Z")
Are there any three letters for which all 6 combinations are words? The best I can come up with is 5:
EAT
ETA (Greek letter)
ATE
\*AET
TEA
TAE (Scots variant of “to”)
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### Author:  [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/4 "2019-01-15T20:39:55Z")
AER - variant form of AIR
ARE
EAR
ERA
RAE - Proper name, usually female
REA - variant form of REI, a portuguese form of money; also, in Latin, the word for “defendant”
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### Author:  [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)
#### Post date: [January 15, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/5 "2019-01-15T21:01:39Z")
I suppose I could exclude proper nouns from this game, and I probably should. My OP says “standard English words.” I guess how loosely you interpret that is up to you.
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### Author:  [@kk\_fusion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kk_fusion)
#### Post date: [February 11, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-words-can-you-make-out-of-the-same-letters/827817/6 "2019-02-11T06:02:24Z")
Another sixer:
STAR
TARS
RATS
ARTS
RAST
TSAR