Monthly Puzzle Contest August 2026 | Edition #155- Outliers Secret Code -

Below are five groups (columns) of seven words. In each group, all of the words except one share something very particular in common with the rest of the group. There is a safe with a five digit code. The first digit corresponds to the position (1 to 7) of the outlier in the first group, the second digit corresponds to the position (1 to 7) of the outlier in the second group, and so forth. None of the 5 digits in the code are the same and all of the digits in the code are from 2 to 6 inclusive (the outlier is never the first or last word in a group). Can you find the outlier in each group to obtain the secret code?

Group 1 (1st Digit)	Group 2 (2nd Digit)	Group 3 (3rd Digit)	Group 4 (4th Digit)	Group 5 (5th Digit)
1. fire	1. form	1. act	1. age	1. ache
2. ground	2. fuse	2. change	2. bid	2. arch
3. hand	3. sand	3. claim	3. get	3. band
4. pack	4. sole	4. odd	4. give	4. line
5. sauce	5. tent	5. plain	5. go	5. lock
6. seat	6. test	6. port	6. omit	6. phone
7. yard	7. text	7. press	7. tune	7. stone

Some final hints. The property that the words in each group (except the outlier) have in common is word-related and has nothing to do with the letters in the word or letter patterns. Once you find the common property in one group, you'll know what to look for in the other groups. And to start you off in the right direction, the first digit of the code is a 5.