Five-Letter Word Patterns

106

FIVE-LETTER

WORD

PATTERNS

EDWARD

R.

WOLPOW

Brookline,

Massachusetts

Excluding

patterns

with

three

or

more

consecutive

identical

letters,

there

are

41_different

patterns

for

five-letter

words:

abcde

1

pair

aabcd,

abacd,

abcad,

abcda,

baaed,

bacad,

bacda,

bcaad, bcada,

bcdaa

1

triple

aabac,

aabca,

abaac,

abaca,

abcaa,

baaca,

bacaa

1

quad

aabaa

2

pairs

aabbc,

aabcb,

aacbb,

ababc,

abacb,

acabb,

abbac,

abcab,

acbab,

abbca,

abcba, acbba,

caabb,

cabab,

cabba

1

pair,

aabab, aabba,

abaab, ababa,

abbaa,

baaba,

babaa

1

triple

Words

cor

responding

to

most

of

these

patterns

can

be

readily

found

in

unabridged

dictionaries

or

gazetteers;

in

fact,

there

are

thousands

of

examples

for

some

patterns.

In

this

article,

I

illustrate

each

pattern

with

a

set

of

words

exhibiting

all

pas

sible

alphabetic

permutations.

For

example,

the

pattern

abc

can

be

illustrated

with

the

six

words

can

(213),

you

(312),

dig

(132),

for

(123),

the

(321)

and

nub

(231),

where

the

three-

digit

sequences

indicate

the

alphabetic

order

of

the

letters.

In

the

November

1978

Word

Ways,

the

edito

r

gave

a

list

of

120

words

showing

all

alphabetic

permutations

of

words

with

the

pattern

abcde;

I

extend

this

study

to

the

other

40

patterns

in

the

tables

below.

In

each

table.

the

column

at

the

fa

r

left

specifie

s

the

permutation

of

the

letters.

For

example,

the

third

permutation,

1324,

states

that

for

all

words

in

this

row

the

a-letter

in

the

pattern

must

be

earliest

in

the

alphabet,

followed

by

the

c-letter

in

the

pattern.

followed

by

the

b-

letter

in

the

pattern,

followed

by

the

d-letter

in

the

pattern.

In

the

second

column,

for

example,

the

basic

patte

rn

of

all

the

war

ds

is

abacd.

The

word

every

has

the

pattern

abacd

and

the

alphabetic

per-

mutation

1324;

e

(the

a-letter)

comes

before

r

(the

c-letter)

,

which

in

turn

comes

before

v

(the

b-letter)

,

and

the

latest

letter

is

y

(the

d-

letter).

Most

words

can

be

found

in

the

Second

or

Third

Editions

of

Webste

r I s

New

International

Dictionary

of

the

English

Language,

or

are

inferred

forms

such

as

plurals

of

nouns;

words

labeled

*

are

in

the

OED,

and

proper

name

s

labeled

§

are

in

the

Time

s

Index-

Gazetteer.

My

thanks

to

the

edito

r

for

various

additions

and

improvements

to

the

table

s .

12

12

13

13

14

14

21

21

23

23

24

24

31

31

32

32

3

L

3

L

4:

4.

4;

4;

4:

4

L

1;

1:

1:

1,

1'

2

2

2

2

2

2

3

3

3

3

3

3

4

4

4

4

4

4

107

abcd

aabcd

abacd

abcad

abcda

baacd

1234

1243

1324

Aalst§

Aache§

eemis

again

abase

every

chick

enter

areas

elope

elute

elite

feels

meets

oddly

1342

ootus

*

Bible

clock

dined

raash

1423

llyns

event

click

going

weeks

1432

Aaron

aware

crock

aroma

weets

2134

llano

memos

eager

harsh

allow

2143

oonts

lilts

catch

kapok

boots

~tical

lette

r s ,

2314

2341

ootby

Ccoya

eject

emend

pulpy

circa

elate

loyal

needs

sooth

2413

oozes

cycad

crack

evase

upper

bacda,

2431

3124

3142

Ootsa§

oobit

kukri

paper

icing

gunge

palps

sayso

hutch

sinus

hatch

toosh

books

annul

bacaa

3214

oones*

piper

olios

polyp

looks

3241

oomph

rerub

truth

river

issue

abbac,

bb,

cabab,

3412

3421

4123

oopak

ootid

tutor

ozone

sasin

stash

iodi.c

ladle

steps

local

label

utter

zooid

atter

babaa

4132

V-

vats

gaged

valve

sales

apple

4213

ooman

sisal

uncut

signs

otter

dily

found

in

housands

of

4231

4312

4321

Ooike

§

oolak

oolie*

title

total

tithe

torte

spasm

trite

legal

sides

treat

goold

mooch

moola

~ach

patte

rn

~utations

.

bacad

bacda

bcaad

bcada

bcdaa

lix

words

can

(231)

,

where

the

letters.

If

120

words

:ern

abc

de;

I

ow.

1234

1243

1324

1342

1423

1432

leper

never

cabal

seven

visit

watap

balsa

karma

serve

parka

tense

panda

hobby

green

jiffy

queen

trees

troop

guava

drama

plaza

stele

there

sided

stuff

puree

snuff

stiff

three

skiff

~ermutation

state

s

that

be

ea

rlie

st

in

wed

by

the

b-

'n.

In

the

\'i'ords

is

~abetic

per-

er)

,

which

r

is

y

(the

d-

Editions

of

nguage,

or

ed *

are

in

the

Gazetteer.

2134

2143

2314

2341

2413

2431

3124

3142

3214

3241

3412

3421

4123

4132

defer

civil

robot

livid

seder

timid

color

boron

logos

inone

solon

wolof

lupus

cutup

known

belie

leave

fence

un

ton

which

conto

dryer

strut

stunt

peace

urger

gypsy

crier

fully

creep

shoot

stood

walls

speed

floor

bleed

happy

myrrh

gaffe

senna

fuzzy

blood

ameve

crepe

nabob

grebe

scene

piece

costs

alibi

Jesus

muses

vases

vises

desks

dryly

bluff

atoll

scuff

still

saree

small

abyss

fr

ill

idyll

guess

radii

shall

floss

dress

ovements

4213

4231

Jugum

goloe

jocko

briar

lasso

flood

basis

motet

igloo

class

4312

state

order

passe

shyly

phoss

4321

stote

ileal

pizza

wryly

plass