Move Letter Word Puzzles Practice Test Worksheets
Move letter questions ask you to remove one letter from the first word and insert that same letter into the second word. The remaining letters stay in order, and both results must be real words.
For students who know the words, but get stuck deciding which letter has to move to make both answers work.
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What Do Move Letter Questions Look Like?
Move letter questions ask you to remove one letter from the first word and insert that same letter into the second word. The remaining letters stay in order, and both results must be real words. Here is a worked example.
Remove one letter from the first word and add it to the second word to make two new words. Do not rearrange the other letters.
Answers that are a plural of the three letter word are not allowed.
Moving a Final Letter
Question: racer pea ______ _____
Worked Method
Remove the final r from racer. The remaining letters spell race.
Put the same r into pea to make pear.
Answer: move r - race and pear. Tip: The shortened first word must keep the original letter order.
Rules to Help You Solve Move Letter Questions
These puzzles are small, but every answer has to obey the same strict transformation rule. Use these core rules to solve move letter questions systematically:
✂️ Rule 1: Remove exactly one letter
Take one letter out of the first word. The other letters must remain in their original order.
Example: racer can lose r to become race.
➡️ Rule 2: Move that same letter
Insert the same removed letter into the second word, keeping all its existing letters in their original order.
Example: pea plus the moved r becomes pear.
✅ Rule 3: Both results must be real words
A move only works if both results are real words. The second result must not simply be a plural of the original three-letter word.
Example: darts and but become dart and bust by moving s.
🔎 Rule 4: Check every possible position
The moved letter can be inserted at the start, middle, or end of the second word.
Example: piped and lay become pipe and lady by moving d between a and y.
Two More Worked Examples
Finding Multiple Valid Solutions
Question: piped lay ______ _____
Worked Method
Remove d from piped to make pipe.
Insert d between a and y in lay to make lady.
There is also another accepted solution: remove the second p from piped to make pied, then insert it at the start of lay to make play.
Answers: move d - pipe and lady, or move p - pied and play. Tip: Some questions have more than one valid solution. Check both resulting words and their letter order for each move.
Preserving Letter Order
Question: rifle lip ______ _____
Worked Method
A tempting attempt is to remove l from rifle to make rife, then use it with lip to make pill. Both are real words, but this move is invalid: pill puts p before i, reversing their order in lip.
Instead, remove f from rifle. The remaining letters spell rile.
Put the f at the start of lip to make flip.
Answer: move f - rile and flip. Tip: Real words alone are not enough: the original letters must stay in order in both words.
