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Words Within Words

Guess the words which contain shorter words of the same meaning.
e.g. the word CONJOIN contains the synonymous shorter word JOIN
Sentences illustrate usage. They have similar meaning with either the shorter or longer word
Quiz by
overtired
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Last updated: October 13, 2022
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First submittedOctober 21, 2021
Times taken53,753
Average score62.5%
Rating4.84
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Shorter Word
Longer Word
VACATE the area
E V A C U A T E
See the flowers BLOOM
B L O S S O M
They BOMBED the fort
B O M B A R D E D
An APT statement
A P P R O P R I  A T E
A dark spooky CAVE
C A V E R N
I URGE you to rethink
E N C O U R A G E
They've TRACED us
T R A C K E D
The CITY held a vote
M U N I  C I P A L I  T Y
A CONTRARY argument
C O N T R A D I  C T O R Y
The parrot is DEAD
D E C E A S E D
The ACTUAL events
F A C T U A L
It's time to EAT
F E A S T
A GIANT monster
G I G A N T I  C
VALUABLE treasures
I  N V A L U A B L E
We saw her LAST movie
L A T E S T
A MALE voice echoed
M A S C U L I  N E
Begin the REVOLT
R E V O L U T I  O N
My hunger is SATED
S A T I  S F I  E D
The baby arrived EARLY
P R E M A T U R E L Y
Don't TAINT the water
C O N T A M I N A T E
BAN him from the country
B A N I  S H
Leave it in the DEPOT
D E P O S I  T O R Y
It's a complete FICTION
F A B R I C A T I O N
Just ME and Irene
M Y S E L F
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75 Comments
overtired
+12
Level 88
Oct 21, 2021
How's the time limit on this?
CMC315
+19
Level 58
Oct 21, 2021
I had a lot of time left (6:49) and I'm not super fast with quizzes, so I think it can be shorter if you want, but doesn't need to be.
overtired
+6
Level 88
Oct 21, 2021
OK, good to know thanks. I'll just leave it long. I guess it's not a quiz where you can try every answer from a set until you get the right one so it can't really be too long.
AlexThirkell
+4
Level 74
Oct 19, 2022
6:59 here, probably the longest I've had left after a short quiz. Fun one though, I love a word game :)
GrammarBeane1
+11
Level 83
Oct 12, 2022
I would take it down a bit, there seems to be a lot of extra time for this
overtired
+18
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
Can do. It's not meant to be a race though. If there's no need for time to be tight I prefer to leave it long.
kitshef
+14
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
I had tons of extra time, but I can't see why that would be a problem.
Freestatebear
+5
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
Was perfect for me - finished with just a few seconds remaining.
Freestatebear
+1
Level 88
Dec 1, 2024
But taking it again, I only used about half the time. Guess my memory still works ok!
nezaak
+1
Level 43
Dec 1, 2024
today lol
ctleng76
+2
Level 65
Oct 26, 2022
Honestly, I think it could be shortened by a minute or two.

Great quiz!

jonf
+3
Level 70
Oct 26, 2022
I love the quiz. I had 6 minutes left but it doesn't seem like a big deal.
GrammarBeane1
+22
Level 83
Oct 12, 2022
I kept trying satiated for sated, I'm only just now realizing the spaces aren't right to fit it
overtired
+3
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
Good one though. I could allow it, though you're right, it doesn't quite fit.
JackintheBox
+2
Level 82
Oct 26, 2022
Same, I tried that a few times before figuring out the correct synonym!
salvadoran
+8
Level 62
Jul 2, 2023
i tried saturated! had it stuck in my head and then couldn't think of anything else
Limukala
+1
Level 61
Feb 13, 2026
Good thing they updated it, that would have driven me crazy if it didn’t work.
Henceforth516
+10
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
If they were intentional, kudos on the little easter eggs....the dead parrot and Me, Myself, and Irene jump out at me
prs17
+1
Level 73
Oct 13, 2022
Yes, but strictly speaking me and myself are NOT interchangeable - despite popular misusage.
plattitude
+7
Level 94
Oct 24, 2022
Nor are last and latest, but they're all close enough to be getting on with.
emoney9
+6
Level 86
Oct 26, 2022
I think the point is just that they're interchangeable in the sentence given, not necessarily always
Dollyfroggy
+1
Level 63
Nov 1, 2022
Can anyone explain the parrot easter egg?
vermiciousknid
+3
Level 91
Nov 7, 2022
Probably a reference to this
Dml123
+5
Level 71
Oct 12, 2022
Nice quiz - thanks. It must have taken a lot of thought!
TurkeyCookTime
+1
Level 85
Oct 12, 2022
Include "defeated" for the parrot question?
lilacwaffles
+2
Level 52
Oct 26, 2022
‘Defeated’ isn’t a synonym of ‘dead’
iRDM
+2
Level 81
Dec 19, 2024
defeated.... permanently
alberici
+8
Level 74
Oct 12, 2022
"Inflammable" means "flammable"? What a country!!
JackintheBox
+3
Level 82
Oct 26, 2022
Which country?!
Glorfindel1
+1
Level 89
May 14, 2025
The greatest country
PantsLobbyist
+3
Level 99
Oct 12, 2022
I couldn't get past Bombing as an answer for the longest time. Maybe add a caveat discounting verb conjugation?
overtired
+2
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
Thanks, will adjust that one to avoid this.
NMI
+4
Level 86
Oct 12, 2022
Very nice! Thank you, @overtired.
overtired
+2
Level 88
Oct 12, 2022
You're welcome :)
jayhiatt
+6
Level 72
Oct 12, 2022
Satiated and falsification were both just close enough to throw me off. Great quiz!
Dimby
+2
Level 83
Oct 13, 2022
Great quiz! I sure stalled out on the last couple. Thanks for the extra time allowed. It sure is hard to believe that there are this many synonym-like words within words. I have to imagine that you manually thought of all these. Thanks for the effort!
Jerry928
+4
Level 76
Oct 13, 2022
What a brilliant idea!
WillemLAif
+2
Level 81
Oct 13, 2022
"A bustling city" threw me off as that place can well be a sleepy village or a tedious town.
overtired
+3
Level 88
Oct 13, 2022
OK, will change it, thanks.
DonTheLamplighter
+3
Level 87
Oct 15, 2022
Brilliant quiz!
Koopa
+1
Level 88
Oct 16, 2022
Very creative.
MindWax
+3
Level 87
Oct 16, 2022
"Depositing" blocked me up for quite some time.
cathlete
+2
Level 78
Jul 5, 2025
Me with deposition
TheMightyQ
+1
Level 86
Oct 17, 2022
That parrot isn't dead, it's just restin'...
plattitude
+2
Level 94
Oct 24, 2022
Naw, it's pining for the fjords!
D31415
+1
Level 83
Jun 25, 2025
It has ceased to be
HappyQuizzer
+2
Level 68
Oct 17, 2022
Brilliant quiz thank you
IST
+1
Level 69
Oct 26, 2022
This quiz was a nice challenge, well done.
alexandertorres1978
+1
Level 70
Oct 26, 2022
Very clever quiz. "Fiction" was sodding hard!
Myloufa
+1
Level 65
Oct 26, 2022
I have to say rhat some of these word not really means the same thing at all.

One of the easiest examples is Revolt and Revolution. Revolt is usually something not too big, that can be put down by the authorities. However, a Revolution implies a really big event where deep changes are made in a society.

I feel that Americans are quite laxist with the meaning of words, and don't care to know what they mean exactly and how should they be used.

Deru
+1
Level 36
Oct 26, 2022
This is the best quiz I have taken on here
Elan
+1
Level 66
Oct 26, 2022
Really fun quiz, but wouldn't it make more sense to have us guess the word contained within the word, instead of the letters around it? Not sure if that's possible but I feel like it would be more of a challenge.
GlassMonkeyOLD
+1
Level 69
Oct 27, 2022
got 19, with 0 seconds remaining. I found some of them quite difficult. P___ap_ I s_o_l_ h__e _e_d _he __s__uction_ fi_st.
dunkinggandalf2
+1
Level 72
Oct 27, 2022
Cool quiz idea!
pensta
+1
Level 67
Oct 30, 2022
Bad clues make it so much harder.
overtired
+11
Level 88
Oct 30, 2022
They aren’t definitions of the longer word, they illustrate usage. Read the instructions. That tends to make things so much easier.
MaddAddam
+1
Level 64
Mar 27, 2023
Excellent quiz! Really clever.
MST
+2
Level 55
May 5, 2023
15 correct. Not that bad for English not being my first language
WashingMachine
+1
Level 67
Jun 1, 2023
I tried satiated so many different ways...
Hapsburg
+1
Level 75
Jul 6, 2023
I never thought about these words this way
SirPhilippines
+2
Level 73
Jan 27, 2024
I totally did not think Municipality was Principality, but I guess it could work.
HydratedMite
+3
Level 68
Feb 1, 2024
They're called kangaroo words!
overtired
+4
Level 88
Feb 1, 2024
That was the original name of the quiz and the thumbnail was a kangaroo with a joey in her pouch.
stylus
+7
Level 79
Aug 19, 2024
not a criticism of the quiz at all, but interestingly, in logic/philosophy we do draw a distinction between contrary and contradictory.

two statements are considered to be contrary if they can't both be true. for example "there are two apples" and "there are three apples" can't both be true; at least one must be false. but they could both be false, eg if there were four apples.

two statements are contradictory if they can't both be true, and can't both be false - so one is the direct negation of the other, and only one can be true and the other's false. for example "there are two apples" and "there are not two apples".

subtle distinction, but sometimes useful. and i'm not suggesting you change the quiz or anything, just a bit of fun

Hollygomerryround
+1
Level 60
Dec 1, 2024
I typed banned for banish lol
bananawana
+1
Level 32
Nov 10, 2025
Same
maartenstoute
+2
Level 29
Dec 1, 2024
Love the Monty Python reference, made me smile!
samiam1955
+1
Level 68
Dec 2, 2024
'e's not dead, 'e's pinin' for the fjords!
iRDM
+1
Level 81
Dec 19, 2024
this is nuts! How on earth did you find 24 of these? It would've taken me hours to find even one pair of synonyms where one contains the other (other than inflammable lol). Did you use some sort of computer algorithm or are you just the God of Synonyms?
Hedgehog76
+1
Level 74
Dec 20, 2024
Really cool quiz. I'm pretty proud of 23/24 as a non-native speaker. Although I had to pause it twice and think very deeply about it...
ptrquiz
+1
Level 63
Dec 30, 2024
Excellent quiz, keep up the good work!
Dwagon88
+1
Level 20
Aug 7, 2025
bruh I didn't get prematurely bc I misspelled smh
bananawana
+1
Level 32
Nov 10, 2025
I was wondering why “tracked” wasn’t working and then I realized there was a yellow box
Baton793
+1
Level 58
Feb 18, 2026
Genius!
Nathaniel
+1
Level 77
Feb 28, 2026
Loved it! So much fun to play!
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