Word Chain Level 173 Answers
The full answer is WHOLE → SALE → PRICE → DROP → …, with a definition for every word. This chain is about the game average of 6.8 words.
Level 173 — 7 Words
Read it left to right: every neighbouring pair makes a compound or a phrase. More chains are in levels 151–200.
Why Each Word Follows the Last
Each pair below is the compound or phrase that joins two neighbours. Spotting one usually gives you the next.
What Each Word Means
Useful when a link looks wrong: a word in a chain is often being used in its second or third sense rather than the obvious one.
Entire.
An exchange of goods or services for currency or credit.
The cost required to gain possession of something.
A small mass of liquid just large enough to hold its own weight via surface tension, usually one that falls from a source of liquid.
The transportation of goods.
Manner; way; means; available course; contrivance.
Having the power to produce a required effect or effects. Other Levels Jump to a few of the next or previous levels in Word Chain. Previous Levels Level 170 Level 171 Level 172 Next Levels Level 174 Level 175 Level 176 We want to provide as many answers and guides as possible to help you beat puzzle games. This page is specifically for Word Chain, but you can check out the other games we support.
Other Levels in 151-200
How to Break Level 173 Open
Start from the ends, not the middle
The first and last words have only one neighbour each, so they carry the least ambiguity. Here that is WHOLE and EFFECTIVE. The same trick works on every chain in levels 151-200.
A word can join in either direction
Chains use compounds both ways round — whole sale reads forwards, but many links only work if you try the reverse. If a word refuses to fit, flip the pair.
Check the second meaning
7 of the words here carry a definition above. Chains lean on secondary senses far more than the obvious one, which is why a link can look wrong until you read what the word actually means.
How to Solve a Word Chain Level
Ends first, then work inwards.
Read the chain as a sequence
It is not a word list. Each answer must join the one before it, so the order is part of the puzzle — see the full level list for how they grow.
Anchor at both ends
The outer words have a single neighbour each, so they are the least ambiguous place to start.
Try the pair both ways
Compounds work in one direction only. When a candidate stalls, reverse it before discarding it.
Verified Answers, Not Guesses
How we verify every chain for all 569 levels, with definitions for the words
Levels are taken from the published answers and cross-checked against a second source, which agreed on all 520 levels it covers. The game itself ends at level 569: the source answers HTTP 200 for any higher number and serves one repeated puzzle, so those are deliberately not published. The routine is in our methodology and the standards in our editorial policy.
Reviewed by Priya Raghunathan, Word Games Editor at Puzzle Solved. The full checking routine is in the methodology, and the standards every page is held to are in the editorial policy.
Last checked — Aug 24, 2026