Two Chunky Letters
I thought it might be interesting to look at some higher scoring 4 letter words without listing the ones with J, Q, X and Z that everyone has already seen.
Let's use the letters H and K. How many 4 letter words can you list that have both an H and a K in them?
I am not even going to tell you how many there are. Just grab that scrap of paper sitting next to your computer and start writing down the ones that you know. I am sure that you can think of some!
STOP RIGHT THERE
Yes, I saw you scrolling down to the bottom of the page looking for the answers.
Back in the old days, before this blog, when I used to come to the scrabble club with a photocopied quiz and some interesting words lots of people would skip the challenge, turn over the page and go straight to the answers.
No doubt many people do the same thing with my blogs, but I thought I might make a special effort to stop you doing that with this challenge.
For a start, this is a challenge where EVERYONE can find some answers. Four letter words including an H and a K. You must be able to think of some!
Secondly I have a hunch that many people remember things better by writing them down. You don't have to write “I must do Patrick’s quizzes” 50 times on the blackboard like an old-fashioned punishment, but if you write down the words you can think of then maybe later you will also write in the answers you missed. We all learn in different ways, but isn't that worth a try to see if it works for you?
Have I persuaded you to have a go at the challenge?
<sigh> I thought not, but here are the answers anyway.
There are actually 49 words in this set of answers. I didn’t want to tell you that at the start because most people would have thought the task was too daunting.
We will start with a list of 15 well-known words, where I am sure you don’t need me to give you the definition:
HACK HAKA HARK HAWK HECK
HICK HIKE HONK HOOK HULK
HUNK HUSK HOCK KHAN KITH
You probably know most of these next 7 words, but I'll give you the definitions anyway:
ANKH An Egyptian symbol of life. Coptic Christians use this as their cross
HAKE A fish of the cod family
HANK To catch, as on a loop
HOIK To hitch up
HOKI (Maori) A type of fish with white flesh
HUCK To force roughly
KOHA A gift or donation made when visiting a marae
That leaves 27 words that I think are very unusual and only someone who has come across them in their area of special interest would know the meanings:
CHIK A slatted blind
DHAK A leguminous tree of East India and Myanmar
HAIK An Arab head-covering
HAKU (Maori) The kingfish
HASK A fish basket
HOKA (Maori) Red cod
HOKE To assign a false value
HOLK (Scots) To dig or burrow
HORK To spit
HOWK (Scots) To dig or burrow
HYKE An Arab head-covering
KAPH Another spelling for the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
KESH The uncut hair of a male Sikh
KHAF The 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
KHAT A shrub of East Africa. Leaves are chewed as a drug
KHET The 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
KHIS The plural of KHI, the 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet
KHOR (Arabic) A dry watercourse or ravine
KHUD A pit, hollow or ravine
KISH Solid graphite which separates from hot cast iron
KOHL A think powder which is used as eye makeup
KOPH The 19th letter of the Hebrew alphabet
KUEH A Malaysian, Indian or Chinese cake
LAKH (Hindi) A unit of counting one hundred thousand
OKEH An expression of agreement
RUKH An enormous bird of Arabian legend
SUKH An Arab marketplace
Happy Scrabbling
Patrick