In the following question, select the word that can be formed using the letters of the given word. PITCHINGS

Correct — A.
Rule: every letter of the answer must appear in the given word, as often as the answer uses it.

PITCHINGS gives P, I, T, C, H, I, N, G, S.

HINGS needs H, I, N, G, S, one of each, and all five are there → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  HANGS — HANGS needs an A, and PITCHINGS has no A. Its other four letters are available, which is what makes it tempting.
• (c)
  HUNG — HUNG needs a U, and PITCHINGS has no U. H, N and G are all there, so the vowel is what fails.
• (d)
  HECK — HECK needs an E and a K, and PITCHINGS has neither. Just the H and the C come from the given word.

Word formation checks letters, not meaning. List the given word's letters with their counts, then test each option letter by letter.

PITCHINGS has two I's and one each of P, T, C, H, N, G and S. Its one vowel is I, so any option that needs A, E, O or U fails at once. That single check removes HANGS, HUNG and HECK.

Key facts

• PITCHINGS has the letters P, I, T, C, H, I, N, G and S, with I twice.
• Its one vowel is I, so a word needing A, E, O or U cannot be formed from it.
• An option fails as soon as one letter is missing or used more often than the given word has it.

Common traps

• Accepting HANGS because four of its five letters match
• Skipping the count check when an option repeats a letter

No directly related past PYQ was found.