This is a chain.

In this lesson you're going to learn how to make a chain.

But before we go any further, tell me what you'd like me to call you. Enter your name and click the OK button. If you won't tell me I'll just have to call you Kiddo.
In summer you can make a daisy chain.

At Christmas you can make a paper chain.

But this chain is one you can make any time of the year.

It's called a WORD CHAIN.
A WORD CHAIN is a chain of words in which each word is ONE LETTER DIFFERENT from the next word.

Let's work through an example.

On your left you see a cat, and a very fine cat it is too.

But suppose you don't want a cat: you'd much rather have a dog.

Using a WORD CHAIN you can change CAT into DOG.

Here's how.
To make a WORD CHAIN you change one letter of your word so that you make another word.

For instance you could change the C of CAT to make BAT, RAT or HAT.

You could change the T of CAT to make CAR, CAN or CAP.

Can you think of any others?

Try going through the alphabet letter by letter to help you.

But this time we're going to change the middle letter of CAT from an A to an O.

So our CAT turns into a COT.

When you've woken up from your sleep you can find out what to do next.

Remember that we're trying to get a DOG.
Now we take our COT, change the T at the end to a G and we produce a COG.

We could just as well have changed the C to a D and produced a DOT instead.

Can you work out what we have to do next to turn our COG into a DOG?

That's right. We change the C at the start of COG into a D and now we have a DOG.

WHAT!?!? You didn't want a HOT dog? You wanted a PET dog instead?

Try this dog instead then!

So our WORD CHAIN looks like this:

CAT - COT - COG - DOG
OK, kiddo. Are you ready to make your own WORD CHAIN now?


No - it's too boring
No - I'm too stupid
I don't understand the lesson - can I start again?
Yes - I understand what I have to do
Before you get some to solve on your own we'll work through a couple of examples together.

Just to make things harder we're going to use four-letter words.

My mum says I mustn't use 4-letter words
Fine - my dad taught me lots of 4-letter words
I don't understand the lesson - can I start again?
I know loads of words - and how to spell them
BUSH

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BASE 		Here is our first example.

We have to make a word chain which starts with BUSH, has just ONE word in the middle and finishes with BASE.

Stop and think how you would go about finding the missing word. Remember it must be just ONE letter different from both BUSH and BASE.
BUSH

----

BASE 		Have a look at the two words. How many letters are different?

None 1 2 3 All 4

BUSH

----

BASE 		Tell me: which two letters are different?

1 & 2 1 & 3 1 & 4
2 & 3 2 & 4 3 & 4

BUSH

----

BASE 		Correct! The second and fourth letters of BUSH and BASE are different.

So we have to do one of two things: either we change the second letter, followed by the fourth letter, or we change the fourth letter followed by the second letter.

But remember, when we make the first change we must come up with a real word.

BUSH


BASE
What I want you to do now is change the SECOND letter of BUSH to the SECOND letter of BASE. Use the keypad below to enter the result.
BUSH

BASH

BASE 		Did you enter the letters B - A - S - H?



Yes: that's what I did
No, but I understand it now
I don't understand - can I start again?
Can I see this example again?


The next question is this:

Do the four letters we've just entered (B - A - S - H) make a word?

Yes: BASH is a word in my dictionary.
No: BASH is NOT a word in my dictionary.


So we've found our answer and now have a complete WORD CHAIN:

 BUSH

BASH

BASE
Congratulations on solving your first WORD CHAIN, kiddo.


We've just got time to work through one more example.

Once you've done this you'll really understand how to do WORD CHAINS and be ready to take the WORD CHAIN EXAM.

KILT

----

PILL 		On your left are two new words. (A KILT is what a Scotsman wears.) How many letters are different?

None 1 2 3 All 4

KILT

----

PILL 		Tell me: which two letters are different?

1 & 2 1 & 3 1 & 4
2 & 3 2 & 4 3 & 4

KILT

----

PILL 		Well done! The first and fourth letters of KILT and PILL are different.

So we have to do one of two things: either we change the first letter, followed by the fourth letter, or we change the fourth letter followed by the first letter.

But remember, when we make the first change we must come up with a real word.

KILT


PILL
Start off by changing the first letter of KILT to the first letter of PILL and see what happens. Use the keypad to type in the four letters that gives you.
You should have entered the letters P - I - L - T.

Would you find PILT in your dictionary, do you think?

Yes: PILT is a word in my dictionary.
No: PILT is NOT a word in my dictionary.
KILT


PILL
So we need to go back and start again. This time, change the fourth letter of KILT to the fourth letter of PILL.
You should have entered K - I - L - L.

Would you find KILL in your dictionary, do you think?

Yes: KILL is a word in my dictionary.
No: KILL is NOT a word in my dictionary.


We've now made another complete WORD CHAIN:

 KILT

KILL

PILL
You have now completed your WORD CHAIN tutorial, kiddo.


You should now take the WORD CHAIN EXAM for some further practice in solving WORD CHAINS.