Word Chain Level 38 Answers
The full answer is BOOK → SHELF → LIFE → JACKET → …, with a definition for every word. This chain is about the game average of 6.8 words.
Level 38 — 7 Words
Read it left to right: every neighbouring pair makes a compound or a phrase. More chains are in levels 1–50.
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.
A collection of sheets of paper bound together to hinge at one edge, containing printed or written material, pictures, etc.
A flat, rigid, rectangular structure, fixed at right angles to a wall, and used to support, store or display objects.
The state that follows birth, and precedes death; the state of being alive and living.
A piece of clothing worn on the upper body outside a shirt or blouse, often waist length to thigh length.
A bag stitched to an item of clothing, used for carrying small items.
A utensil or a tool designed for cutting, consisting of a flat piece of hard material, usually steel or other metal (the blade), usually sharpened on one edge, attached to a handle. The blade may be pointed for piercing.
A permanent mark on the skin sometimes caused by the healing of a wound. Other Levels Jump to a few of the next or previous levels in Word Chain. Previous Levels Level 35 Level 36 Level 37 Next Levels Level 39 Level 40 Level 41 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
Other Levels in 1-50
How to Break Level 38 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 BOOK and SCAR. The same trick works on every chain in levels 1-50.
A word can join in either direction
Chains use compounds both ways round — book shelf 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