How it works
This before and after word game deals one puzzle at a time and keeps the answer hidden. Press Next question, let the room call it out, then tap Show answer. There are 402 puzzles of two kinds: 258 linking words, such as BOOK ___ HOLE, and 144 overlapping phrases built from clues, from peanut butterfly to school bus stop sign. Every half is a real dictionary entry.
Read the full guide
Run a round from one phone
Choose a reader and hand over the phone. Press Next question and read the card aloud: BOOK ___ HOLE is read as "book, blank, hole", and the first player to call the missing word wins it. Tap Show answer to see the word and the two results it makes, here bookworm and wormhole, For timed play, press Play a 1-minute round: one team clears as many cards as it can, then gets a +1 on the end card for each.
Two kinds of puzzle, and the rule that settles arguments
A linking card hides one word that finishes the first word and starts the second: RAIN ___ TIE is bow, for rainbow and bow tie. An overlap card gives clues joined by plus signs, and the answer runs the phrases together on the word they share, so a frozen scoop in a cone plus what you spread on a bagel is ice cream cheese. Three-phrase chains have three clues and a four-word answer. House rule: a different word that makes two real dictionary entries earns the point.
The printed list and what the phone remembers
Tap Show all 402 puzzles under the tool and the whole deck opens, grouped by kind, with each answer beside its puzzle. Cover the answers if you print it for players. A played card stays out until you press Start over, or twelve hours pass without a card. Team names and scores are kept on this phone, so locking the screen between rounds loses nothing.
- Playing with kids under ten? Tap Compound links and Easy. Cards like SUN ___ POT and SNOW ___ HOLE use words they already read at school.
- Read a linking card the same way every time: first word, "blank", second word, then all three again. Players solve by ear.
- Save Three-phrase chains for the final round and score them double with two taps of +1. Coffee table tennis elbow takes some untangling.
- With twelve or more players, make teams of three or four and change the reader every round.
- For a second act, each team writes three puzzles on paper and swaps with a rival. A homemade puzzle counts only if both halves are in a dictionary.
Questions and answers
How do you play the before and after word game?
One word or phrase ends where the next begins, and players find the join. In the linking version you hear two words and name the one that fits between them: book, blank, hole is worm. In the overlap version you hear two clues and run the answers together on their shared word, which is how you get peanut butterfly.
How many players do you need, and what ages does it suit?
Two players can trade cards across a table, and the scoreboard takes up to six teams. Easy cards use words most eight-year-olds know, such as cupcake, doghouse and snowman. Hard cards lean on idioms and office phrases, such as glass ceiling, bottom line and net worth, so keep those for teens and adults.
What if a player gives an answer that is not on the card?
Give the point if it works. The card shows the answer the puzzle was written around. SUN ___ TIME is day on the card, for Sunday and daytime, but down also fits, for sundown and downtime. When the table disagrees, look up both halves in any dictionary. If each has its own entry, the answer stands.
Can I use these puzzles in a classroom or with a seniors' group?
Yes. Every card is clean, and the puzzles use everyday words with no film, song, show or brand names. In a classroom, a linking card makes a compound word warm-up: write the two outer words on the board and take answers by raised hand. The word games for seniors page has more rounds for an activity group.
Where do the puzzles come from?
They were written for this page, not lifted from a television game show or a puzzle book. The language only offers so many joins, so a few will look familiar. A puzzle stayed only if every half has its own entry in English Wiktionary and in a second dictionary, either Dictionary.com or the Cambridge Dictionary.