There are many English words that you can add an “s” to make it plural. But far fewer words become singular when you add an “s”. What are two examples of these much rarer words?
I’m a five-letter word that has no end, Commit a sin? One through three can amend, One, four and five are something alive, Two and three occur near to thee.
Abyss. aby is an archaic word meaning to pay the penalty for. An ass, otherwise known as a donkey, is alive and “by” is another way of saying near to you.
Someone bowled a strike. The ten white men are the pins, the dirt road is the bowling alley (it’s not dirt, but it’s the color of dirt, and if it said a smooth wooden alley it wouldn’t be much of a riddle). Three eyes as black as night are the finger holes in the bowling ball.
You are decorating for spring and you’ve found a bargain. A huge box of beautifully decorated tiles, enough to provide a border in two rooms. You really can’t figure out how to arrange them. If you set a border of two tiles all around, there’s one left over. If you set three tiles all around or four or five or six there’s still one tile left over. Finally you try a block of seven tiles for each corner and you come out even. What is the smallest number of tiles you could have to get this result?