1. What do the following words have in common?

IT
ELL
OWN

2. What do the following words have in common?

PEEL
REGRET
UTILIZE
APPENDAGE
INSPIRATION
REMEMBER
BRANCH

HINT:
2. Think of synonyms for the words.

Answers:

1. Each word can be preceded by KN to form a new word:

KNIT
KNELL
KNOWN

2. Each word has a synonym beginning with the same letter as itself.

PEEL - PARE
REGRET - RUE
UTILIZE - USE
APPENDAGE - ARM
INSPIRATION - IDEA
REMEMBER - RECALL
BRANCH - BOUGH

Credit: Puzzle 2
NY Times Crossword
Peter A. Collins - Dec. 20, 2007