Word Bank

Word Banks are a puzzle element, usually combined with Fill-In-The-Blanks, in which a series of words are provided that can be used to either fill the aforementioned blanks, construct longer phrases, or be used in other unique word-based puzzles.

Puzzle Application

A bullseye-shaped word bank, from the puzzle Archery by Mark Halpin

Word banks are only similar to Letter Banks on the surface. While a letter bank's contents combine to form something more coherent, a word bank's contents don't combine nearly as often, and are instead more commonly used as a way to provide pre-selected options for filling in blanks or answering questions within a given puzzle. Most word banks are, however, alphabetized, another commonality with most letter banks.

The most common form of word bank is a fill-in-the-blanks one, in which a group of words are provided and intended to either fill individual blanks within a sentence or answer individual questions. These word banks tend to not have much for inter-word relationships.

Some word banks do work similarly to letter banks, and require solvers to chain together words in the bank to form larger phrases or sentences. These are rarer, but are more in line with the idea of 'banks' as established by letter banks.

Strategy

TO DO

Notable Examples

• Tree Rings (MITMH 2017) (web) - This puzzle's word bank is in the form of a bullseye, providing starting points for several drawn-out trivia/transformation clues.
• How To Have It All (MITMH 2022) (web) - A very letter-bank-like word bank, requiring solvers to form pangrams to fit particular clues out of a list of words. This also includes a whopping eleven of the word 'A'.

See Also

• Puzzles that use Word Banks