Solving a ‘Word Wheel’ with Deno

deno land

How many different words can you make with a ‘Word Wheel’?

Rules

Each word must always include the centre letter, and each letter can only be used as many times as it is on the wheel (in the example below - ‘a’ is on the wheel twice, so it can be used twice in the same word).

Example of "Word Wheel" - the letter 'L' in the center, and 'N', 'C', 'M'. 'U', 'A', 'B', 'E', 'A' surrounding it

Valid words
  • Calm
  • Ale
  • Bale
Invalid words
  • Hello (Invalid Letters)
  • Cane (Middle letter not used)
  • Mama (‘M’ used twice, despite only appearing in the wheel once)

How to use

import { wordWheel } from "word-wheel";
import { EXAMPLE_WORD_LIST } from "./example-word-list"; // use your own list of words

const REQUIRED_LETTERS = ["L"];
const OPTIONAL_LETTERS = ["A", "N", "C", "M", "U", "A", "B", "E"];

const result = wordWheel({
  letters: {
    requiredLetters: REQUIRED_LETTERS,
    optionalLetters: OPTIONAL_LETTERS,
  },
  dictionary: EXAMPLE_WORD_LIST,
});

// result = [ "ambulance", "albumen", "alumnae", "balance", "calumba", "canulae", ... ]

By adding the lettersCanBeUsedMultipleTimes option, you could use this library to cheat the NYT Spelling Bee. However, as the dictionary the New York Times use isn’t public - you may get some false positives. Best of luck getting those pangrams!

import { wordWheel } from "word-wheel";
import { EXAMPLE_WORD_LIST } from "./example-word-list"; // use your own list of words

const REQUIRED_LETTERS = ["L"];
const OPTIONAL_LETTERS = ["A", "N", "C", "M", "U", "A", "B", "E"];

const result = wordWheel({
  letters: {
    requiredLetters: REQUIRED_LETTERS,
    optionalLetters: OPTIONAL_LETTERS,
  },
  dictionary: EXAMPLE_WORD_LIST,
  options: {
    lettersCanBeUsedMultipleTimes: true,
  },
});

// result = [ "ambulanceman", "ambulancemen", "accumulable", "balanceable", "cancellable", "unblameable", ... ]

If you need an example dictionary to use checkout the word list used in the tests.