Polywords

Curve

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

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© Walter Dendy, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0.

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Curve

© Walter Dendy, Geograph. Licence: CC-BY-SA 2.0. Source
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A former NER A8 4-6-2T waits at Bishop Auckland station in 1953, ready to take the 14.02 Sunderland to Middleton-in-Teesdale (via Durham) train on to its final destination. This journey is no longer possible by train. The line from Sunderland to Durham is gone, as is the sharp curve at Ferryhill taking trains from Durham to Bishop Auckland. The old South Durham and Lancashire Union Railway connecting Bishop to Barnard Castle – home to the magnificent French palace Bowes Museum and Home Page – had closed by 1962, and with it the 8¾-mile spur to tourist hotspot Middleton-in-Teesdale. The route would make a fortune today, but that’s nationalisation.

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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

acer ache acre alive arch archive auricle aver calve care carve cave caver cavil chair char chare charlie chervil chive clear clue crave cruel cure curl curve each earl eclair ecru evil hail hair hale halve hare haul hauler haulier have heal hear heir hire hive hurl lace lacier lair larch lave laver leach lech liar lice lira lire live liver lucre lurch lure race rail rave ravel reach real relic rhea rice rich rile rival rule ulcer uric vale value valuer veal vehicular veil velar vial vicar vice vile viler viral
chervil archive ulcer rival relic halve reach larch leach lurch curve value cruel alive calve vicar carve crave chair liver clear chive veal veil lure vile vice race rail rule rave real vial rice vale rich live hair acre arch care cave clue cure curl each earl evil hail hare haul have heal hear heir hire ache hurl lace lair liar lice hive
acer ache acre alive arch archive auricle aver calve care carve cave caver cavil chair char chare charlie chervil chive clear clue crave cruel cure curl curve each earl eclair ecru evil hail hair hale halve hare haul hauler haulier have heal hear heir hire hive hurl lace lacier lair larch lave laver leach lech liar lice lira lire live liver lucre lurch lure race rail rave ravel reach real relic rhea rice rich rile rival rule ulcer uric vale value valuer veal vehicular veil velar vial vicar vice vile viler viral

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See All Polywords (252)

Find Curve 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 Ache. Halve. Rival.

2 Chive. Leach. Lurch.

3 Arch. Care. Cruel.

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.)

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