Polywords

Crab

Make as many words as you can from just nine letters. Can you beat our score?

Show Photo

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0.

More Info

Back to text

Crab

© David Dixon, Geograph. Licence: CC BY-SA 2.0. Source
X

The 2-6-0 mixed traffic steam locomotives built between 1926 and 1932 and designed by George Hughes, Chief Mechanical Engineer of the LMS, were nicknamed ‘Crabs’. The original is disputed: it may refer to the steeply-angled valve-gear and cylinders (dictated by a narrow loading-gauge) which resemble a crab’s pincers, or to the side-to-side movement of the engine at speed.

Back to text

Introduction

A Polyword is a game with words and letters. Make words of four letters or more from the letters of a nine-letter word, using each letter only once. Include the highlighted letter in every word you make. Can you beat our score?

Tap on any letter to use it for your word. Remember to include the highlighted letter. To change the highlighted letter and get different words, click here.

See All Words

abed abide abrade aced acer acid acre acrid aide airbed aired airer arcade arced area aria arid baaed bade bard bare bared barer barred barricade bead bear beard bide bier bird brace braced brad brae braid bread bred briar bride brie brier caber cadre card cardie care cared carer carried cedar cider crab cred crib cried crier dace dare dear debar dice dire drab drear drier iced idea rabid race raced racer racier radar raid raider rare read rear rice ride rider
carried airbed barred arcade raider carer cared caber braid bread briar bride crier racer radar rider rabid drier cider cried cedar aired brace bared beard abide idea rear iced ride dire drab aide rice race raid acid dice read acre rare aria brie bear bead bred bird card care crib arid dare dear crab bare area
abed abide abrade aced acer acid acre acrid aide airbed aired airer arcade arced area aria arid baaed bade bard bare bared barer barred barricade bead bear beard bide bier bird brace braced brad brae braid bread bred briar bride brie brier caber cadre card cardie care cared carer carried cedar cider crab cred crib cried crier dace dare dear debar dice dire drab drear drier iced idea rabid race raced racer racier radar raid raider rare read rear rice ride rider

Archive

See All Polywords (252)

Find Crab in the Archive

Practice

Spinners Find in Think and Speak

For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.

This exercise uses words found in the accompanying puzzle.

1 Aide. Aria. Bare.

2 Bead. Bear. Cider.

3 Caber. Race. Racer.

Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)

Archive

If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.

Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.