Page 252 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

236 • Chapter 7

An anagram is a word created from another word by re-
arranging all of the letters in the first word. For example, tar
is an anagram of rat. Art is also an anagram of rat and tar.
Danger is an anagram of gander. Try to identify anagrams in
the following list.

Identify Anagrams

Are these words anagrams? Yes No
1. star rats arts _____ _____
2. peace piece _____ _____
3. stare rates tears _____ _____
4. tub but Btu _____ _____
5. Easter teaser _____ _____
6. last first _____ _____

In this table, lines 1, 3, 4, and 5 contain anagrams. Line 2
contains homonyms, words that sound alike. Line 6 contains
opposites.
Now that you know what anagrams are, you can try to
make some of your own.
What is an anagram of the word pit? _______________
What is an anagram of the word bear? _______________
Possible answers include tip and bare. Did you think of
tip and bare? If so, good for you! Go on to the section named
Play AnaGramps. If not, let’s do some more.

Bonus Exercise

Notice that bare is also a homonym for bear. Try to find more
anagrams that also sound like the original word. This extra
exercise will help you work on your auditory skills as well.
Let’s choose the word ear. If you rearrange the letters,
you can make new words. Some words you can make are era
and are. You also could rearrange the letters to spell rea or
Rae or aer. But these are not words in English. Sometimes Rae
can be a woman’s name, and aer means air in Irish.
Rearrange these letters to make anagrams:
What is an anagram of the word spot? ________________
What is an anagram of the word garden? ______________