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ANT ANTE ANTI

One common series of words that comes up in word games is ANT, ANTE, ANTI.  

ANT is a small insect we're all familiar with.

ANTE is a wager placed before cards are dealt.  It's an interesting word since it also appears as a verb with a helper word: ANTE UP.  Which leads to the expression "up the ANTE," meaning to raise the stakes.  As a verb, you can be ANTEING.  After placing that bet (or changing the stakes) you have ANTED (prounced "anteed").  

As a Latin word, "ante" simply means before, and as such it occurs as a prefix in many words like antediluvian: "before the Flood".

ANTI is an odd one.  It's just the common prefix ANTI-, meaning "opposite of", used on its own, like taking an ANTACID to fight acid in your throat.  You can be ANTI crime, which is slightly different than an anti-crime bill.  A fun example from MW is "she is ANTI anything fun," meaning opposed to anything fun.  These all just seem so clunky.

Building on ANTI, the next obvious word is ANTIC, which as a noun describes an attention-grabbing, typically goofy or overly-dramatic behavior.  As an adjective, if you throw enough ANTICS around, you can be called an ANTIC person.  Which means behaving ANTICALLY, which has an odd variant: ANTICLY.

From ANTIC, you can build up to ANTICA, which is more than one ANTICUM (front porch).

A similar word that has never ever popped into my head in the real world is: ANTA, meaning "a pier produced by thickening a wall at its termination" (MW).  Which has a plural of ANTAS or ANTAE. 

None of these would be confused with your AUNT Josephine, good old AUNTIE.  Of course, depending on your region, you might call her "awnt" or "ant".


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