HETERONYMS

Many words in English change meaning when there is a change in stress or syllabication. These words are called stressonyms.

Ex. 1. Make fruits and vegetables

      2. Condense a legal agreement

      3. Introduce a gift

 

Ans. 1. Produce produce

         2. Contract a contract

         3. Present a present 

 

But a relatively few words in English change pronunciation when the meaning of the word changes- with no change in stress or syllabication. These words are called heteronyms.

 

Ex. Guide part of a pencil

Ans. Lead lead 

Ex. A rose and a river

Ans. Flower and flower 

 

Each clue below can be answered with heteronyms.

 

1. Eiffel and AAA

2. Peaceful bird plunged into the water 

3. Remain smeared pitch

4. Placing golf shots on the green

5. Accomplishes female deer

6. 1, 2, or 3 and less feeling 

7. Coiled an injury 

8. Coil the breeze 

9. Underground pipes and Betsy Ross

10. Rip and salty liquid from the eyes when crying 

 

Answers:

1. Tower and tower

2. Dove dove

3. Tarry tarry

4. Putting putting

5. Does does

6. Number number 

7. Wound a wound 

8. Wind the wind 

9. Sewer and sewer

10. Tear and tear 

 

 

 

 

 

GAMES/World of Puzzles

August, 2026

Edward Dermon 

 

Can you name a major U.S. city of seven letters whose first four letters are a word and whose last three letters are a word?

 

Hint:

The city begins with C.

 

Answer:

 

CHICAGO  

CRYPTO CLUES CCLIII

GAMES Magazine

July/August, 1980

Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon (1-8)

GAMES/World of Puzzles

August, 2024

Stella Zawistowski (9-10)

 

1. Isaac's son and company getting into punch

 

2. Contemplating without first employing 

 

3. Junta is overthrown - take a hike

 

4. My clear gown upset a female minister

 

5. Gandhi, e.g., shown in Panama hat - madcap

 

6. Fairies fancifully persist

 

7. Bores the 14th U.S. President's family

 

8. Oddly given to negating things

 

9. Pretend Rilke's written about part of a vine

 

10. Work stirring soup 

 

HINTS;

1. Abbreviation/container

2. Beheadment

3. Anagram

4. Anagram

5. Hidden word

6. Anagram

7. Homophone

8. Anagram

9. Hidden word

10. Anagram 

 

Answers:

 

1. JACOB (JA CO B) [punch = jab]

2. USING (MUSING) 

3. JAUNT (junta)

4.  CLERGYWOMAN (my clear gown)

5. MAHATMA (panaMA HAT - MAdcap)

6. SPRITES (persist)

7. PIERCES

8. VETOING (given to)

9. TENDRIL (preTEND RILke's)

10. OPUS (soup) 

 

PRESTO - CHANGE-O XLVI

Dell PennyPress Variety Puzzles

August 15, 2025

 

Each group below contains four unrelated words. Without re-arranging the order of the letters,  change one letter in each of the words in each of the groups to get four related words.

 

Ex. Chamber, Clime, Shale, Fount

Ans. Clamber, Climb, Scale, Mount

 

1. Stow, Porch, Dry, Summer

2. Bark, Shy, Loop, Pan

3. Gawk, Grow, Crate, Gulp

4. Led, Bank, Cog, Birth

5. Prone, Ham, Pure, Weir

6. Warship, Rove, Adorn, Prime

7. Pile, Tan, Write, Aspen

8. Paid, Sold, Spike, Balked

 

Answers:

 

1. Stew, Poach, Fry, Simmer

2. Barn, Sty, Coop, Pen

3. Hawk, Crow, Crane, Gull

4. Bed, Bunk, Cot, Berth

5. Drone, Hum, Purr, Whir

6. Worship, Love, Adore, Prize

7. Pale, Wan, White, Ashen

8. Said, Told, Spoke, Talked  

GAMES/World of Puzzles

August, 2026

Shawn Kennedy 

 

Other than being three letters long, what do the following words have in common?

 

TEN      KAY

ROT      RAD

MAD     SAG

REF   

 

Answer:

 

Adding the first two letters of each word to the end creates palindromes:

 

TENET      KAYAK

ROTOR     RADAR

MADAM   SAGAS

REFER

     

AWESOME FACTS ABOUT EVERYTHING - CLXXXV

1. Logging is the deadliest job in the United States - by far - with 110/100,000 work injuries, 33 times the national average if 3/100,000

2. The tallest mountain on earth, measured from sea level, is Mt. Everest - at 29,031 feet. But the tallest mountain on earth is actually Mauna Kea in Hawaii at 33,500 feet. 20,000 feet of it are under water.

3. On August 15, 1945, Japanese people heard the recorded voice of Emperor Hirohito for the very first time - via a nation-wide radio broadcast. The Emperor announced the surrender of Japan in World War II.

4. Emmett Ashford was the first African-American umpire in major league baseball. He worked in the American League from 1966-1970. Jen Pawol made history as the fist woman to umpire a MLB game on August 9, 2025 - working first base in a game between the Miami Marlins and the Atlanta Braves.

5. There is no direct word for "please" in Danish.

6. A rice bed is a traditional four-poster wooden bed frame featuring intricate carvings of rice sheaves or tobacco leaves on its posts. Originating in South Carolina and Georgia during the 18th and 19th centuries, these beds reflect the immense wealth generated by slave-based rice plantations.

7. American mathematician Edward Kasner needed a name for an unimaginably large number- 10 to the hundredth power - or 1 followed by 100 zeros. He asked his nephew, Milton Sirotta, to think of a name, and the nine-year-old coined the word googol - because he thought a silly, massive number deserved a simple, playful name (1920). The founders of the namesake search engine, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, originally wanted to name it Googol - to symbolize their mission to organize a vast and seemingly infinite amount of online information. In 1997, while brainstorming and seeing if the domain name was available, Sean Anderson (a Stanford colleague helping them) accidentally typed google.com instead of googol.com. Instead of correcting the typo, Larry Page liked the misspelled version even more and decided to register google.com.

 

8. Kyoto served as the imperial capital and cultural heart of Japan for over 1,000 years (794 - 1868) before Tokyo became the capital. 

 

9. Random House publisher Bennett Cerf made a good-hearted bet with Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel) that he could not write an entertaining book with only 50 distinct words. Dr. Seuss won the bet with Green Eggs and Ham. Of the 50 words, 49 are of one syllable. The most commonly used word is "not" - used 82 times.

 

10. The highest U.S. state capital is Santa Fe, New Mexico - at 7,199 feet. Cheyenne, Wyoming is second - at 6,062 feet. Denver, Colorado is third - at exactly 5,280 feet - giving it the name Mile-High City. Fourth and fifth are Carson City, Nevada and Salt Lake City, Utah. 

 

CLEVER ENDEAVOR X 

Find rhyming synonyms for the two words or phrases in each pair. 

Ex. Overly sweet and attentive - Irritating

Ans. CLOYING - ANNOYING 

 

1. Temper - Hide

2. Analysis - Slanting, indirect 

3. Peaceful - Serving dish for soup 

4. Not showing excess emotion - Brave 

5. Standard gold score - Open marketplace

6. Tenacious, resolute - Opposed, unwilling 

7. Vicious - Accomplished beyond one's age

8. Bell-shaped hat - Period of Vivaldi's music 

9. Extremely harsh - Of a Mesopotamian Empire

10. Dealing with the entire system - Projectiles in motion

 

Answers:

 

1. ANNEAL - CONCEAL

2. CRITIQUE - OBLIQUE  

3. SERENE - TUREEN

4. STOIC - HEROIC

5. PAR - BAZAAR

6. PERSISTENT - RESISTANT 

7. FEROCIOUS - PRECOCIOUS

8. CLOCHE - BAROQUE

9. DRACONIAN - BABYLONIAN

10. HOLISTIC - BALLISTIC