# Words than can accept any vowel **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [March 11, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478 "2012-03-11T19:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mattomic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@mattomic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattomic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/1 "2012-03-11T19:45:42Z")
Here’s a bit of a game I cooked up to distract my 8 year old cousins for a while, meaning Dopers should be able to dominate it: how many letter combinations can you think of where if any of the five vowels (_real_ vowels - my condolences, Y) were inserted into a blank space, it would form five different Scrabble-acceptable words? Ones we came up with rather quickly: **P\_T** (pat, pet, pit, pot, put) \*\*B\_T \*\*(bat, bet, bit, bot, but) I’m sure we thought of a few more that aren’t combing to mind at the moment. I’m sure you’ll find more painful near-examples than examples (damn your non-existence, “bOtter”, “pOck”, “lEck”, “sAre”, “sEck” and “pOn”!) but I present the challenge to you: how many more of these combinations can we come up with? I mostly stuck with 3-4 letter combos, but bonus points go out to anyone who can think of a multi-syllable example ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/2 "2012-03-11T19:47:21Z")
Sot and pock both exist. ---
**Author:** ![mattomic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@mattomic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mattomic)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/3 "2012-03-11T19:54:15Z")
> [@Inner\_Stickler](#): > > Sot and pock both exist. Right you are about sot - but I meant to say “sut”, therein lies the rub. I suppose I’d never thought of a single pock, I generally think of them as either small- or chicken- related and plural, but [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) backs you up - bringing our total to 3. **P\_CK** - pack, peck, pick, pock, puck [Edit: and a fourth that just came to mind, B\_G: bag, beg, big, bog, bug] ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/4 "2012-03-11T20:15:05Z")
The following form words\* with the five vowels: (\*or at least words recognized as playable in the Scrabble dictionary) \_S (as,es\*,is,os#,us) \*the letter ‘s’; #an opening (in anatomy) H\_T (hat,het\*,hit,hot,hut) \*alternate spelling of ‘heth,’ a letter in the Hebrew alphabet G\_T (gat\*,get,git#,got, gut) \*slang for a gun; #alt. spelling of ‘get’ T\_T (tat\*,tet#,tit,tot,tut) \*to perform lacework; #alt. spelling of ‘teth,’ another Hebrew letter R\_M (ram,rem\*,rim,rom#,rum) \*unit for measuring radiation; #a Gypsy boy or man H\_CK (hack,heck,hick,hock,huck\*) \*a type of fabric And a two-syllable one: D\_CKER (dacker\*,decker#,dicker,docker\*\*,ducker##) \*to waver #something with multiple levels (as in ‘double decker’) \*\*a dockworker ##something that ducks [And plain ‘dack’ didn’t make it as a word] ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/5 "2012-03-11T20:38:32Z")
mate, mete, mite, mote, mute ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/6 "2012-03-11T20:56:33Z")
H\_P (hap\*,hep,hip,hop,hup) _to happen T\_N (tan,ten,tin,ton,tun_) _a large vessel F\_N (fan,fen,fin,fon_,fun) _alt. spelling of foehn, a warm, dry wind F\_R (far,fer_,fir,for,fur) _alt. spelling of ‘for’ B\_ND (band,bend,bind,bond,bund_) \*a political organization BL\_NDER (blander,blender,blinder,blonder,blunder) ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2012, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/7 "2012-03-11T22:15:37Z")
M\_ (ma,me,mi,mo\*,mu,my) _moment or momentum M\_D (mad,med,mid,mod,mud) B\_D (bad,bed,bid,bod,bud) B\_LL (ball,bell,bill,boll_,bull) _a cotton pod [as in the boll weevil] P\_P (pap,pep,pip,pop,pup) N\_B (nab,neb_,nib,nob#,nub) _a bird’s beak #a wealthy person M\_LL (mall,mell_,mill,moll,mull) _to mix M\_RE (mare,mere,mire,more,mure_) \*to immure M\_SS (mass,mess,miss,moss,muss) ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/8 "2012-03-12T03:05:53Z")
D\_N ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/9 "2012-03-12T03:20:24Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > M\_ (ma,me,mi,mo\*,mu,my) \*moment or momentum Are there any others that will accept all six vowels, including y? ---
**Author:** ![antonio107](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7ea924/32.png) [@antonio107](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/antonio107)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/10 "2012-03-12T03:28:21Z")
No one has P\_N yet. Now Antonio is the popular one! PAN PEN PIN PON PUN Pon’s…almost a word. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2012, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/11 "2012-03-12T05:02:00Z")
> [@42fish](#): > > BL\_NDER (blander,blender,blinder,blonder,blunder) Very nice! My best is P\_TTER (patter, petter [often heavy], pitter, potter, putter) ---
**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:** [March 12, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-than-can-accept-any-vowel/615478/12 "2012-03-12T15:37:47Z")
Here’s a thread on the same subject that I remember from a few years back: [a-e-i-o-u word groups](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=461632).