BIG LITTLE WORD

A certain five-letter word has three anagrams - starting with C, E, and T. If you drop one letter from this word and re-arrange the remaining letters, you can get five four-letter words - three starting with C, one starting with E, and one starting with T. What is the word?

Answer:

The word is CRUET:

Anagrams 

CUTER      

ERUCT

TRUCE

 

Drop one letter:

Drop T - CURE

Drop E - CURT

Drop R - CUTE

Drop T - ECRU

Drop C - TRUE