How many meaningful words can be formed using the first, the second and the…
2025
How many meaningful words can be formed using the first, the second and the third letters of the word ‘W O N D E R F U L’ using each letter only once?
- A.
Two
- B.
Four
- C.
Three
- D.
One
Attempted by 23 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
To form a meaningful word from a fixed set of letters, every one of the given letters must be used exactly once, so first list all the possible arrangements (permutations) of those letters, and then check each arrangement against the dictionary — only arrangements that turn out to be valid English words are counted.
The first three letters of the word WONDERFUL are W, O and N. Since all three letters are distinct, there are 3! = 6 possible arrangements of these letters:
W O N -> WON: a valid word (the past tense of "win").
W N O -> WNO: not a valid word.
O W N -> OWN: a valid word (meaning to possess).
O N W -> ONW: not a valid word.
N W O -> NWO: not a valid word.
N O W -> NOW: a valid word (meaning "at the present time").
Since all 6 possible arrangements have been checked, no meaningful word has been missed. Exactly three of the arrangements — WON, OWN and NOW — are valid English words, so three meaningful words can be formed.