Here’s a simple-looking word puzzle that has been confusing people with its clever twist:
Remove two letters from the word “FIVE” to make “FOUR.”
At first, it seems impossible. The word FIVE has only four letters, while FOUR is also four letters. So how could removing two letters possibly turn one word into the other?
Take a closer look at the wording.
The puzzle doesn’t actually say you have to create the word “FOUR” by rearranging the remaining letters.
Instead, the trick is to remove two letters from “FIVE” to leave “IV”.
In Roman numerals, IV = 4.
The Answer
The two letters to remove are:
F and E
That leaves:
IV
And IV is the Roman numeral for four.
So the answer is F and E. 🧩
Did you solve it without looking at the answer?