Three Letter Words

Imagine three cubical children's blocks. Each face has a letter of the alphabet printed on it. The three blocks can be arranged so that they spell various three letter words. Below is a list of words that can be spelled out using the blocks, and a list of words that can't be spelled out using the blocks (the lists don't contain all possible three letter words).

Problem 1: Figure out the six letters which were used on each of the blocks.

Problem 2: Try to create a set of blocks that can be used to spell out as many of the three letter words as possible. Use only the words that are given below. The example's set of blocks can spell 156 out of 424 words (about 37%). How much better can you do?

Note: Each face can only be used to represent one letter (e.g., the 'M' can't be used as a 'W'.

Words that can be spelled:

AGE AND ANT APT ARE ASH ASP ATE AWE BAD BAG BAR BAT BED BEG BET BID BIG BIT BOG BOW BUD BUG BUS BUT DEN DIE DIG DIN DIP DOG DON DUB DUE DUG DYE EAR EAT EGG EGO END ERA ERE ERP EWE GAD GAG GAP GAS GET GIG GIN GOT GUN GUS GUT HAD HAG HAS HAT HER HEW HID HIS HIT HOG HOT HOW HUG HUT IRE NAG NET NEW NOD NOR NOT NOW NUT ODE OPT ORB ORE OWE OWN PAD PAR PAT PAW PEG PER PET PEW PIG PIT POD POT PRO PRY PUT RAG RAN RAP RIB RIG RIP ROB ROE RUB RUE RUG RUN RYE SAG SAP SEA SEE SHE SHY SIN SIP SOB SON SPY SUB SUE SUN SUP TAB TAG TAN TAP TEA TEN THE TIE TIN TIP TOE TON TOP TUB TUG UGH URN USE WAG WEB WHO WHY WIG WIN WOE WON YES YET

Words that can not be spelled:

ACE ACT ADD ADO ADS AFT AGO AID AIL AIM AIR ALE ALL AMP ANY APE ARC ARK ARM ART ASK ASS AWL AXE AYE BAH BAN BAY BEE BIB BIN BOB BOO BOX BOY BUM BUN BUY BYE CAB CAN CAP CAR CAT CAW COD COM COO COP COT COW CRY CUB CUE CUP CUT DAD DAM DAY DEW DID DIM DOT DRY EBB EEL EKE ELF ELK ELM ERR EVE EYE FAD FAN FAR FAT FED FEE FEW FIG FIN FIR FIT FIX FLU FLY FOE FOG FOR FOX FRY FUN FUR GAY GEL GEM GUM GUY GYM HAM HAY HEM HEN HEX HEY HIM HIP HOE HOP HUB HUE HUH HUM ICE ICY ILL IMP INK INN ION IRK ITS IVY JAB JAM JAR JAW JAY JET JIG JOB JOG JOT JOY JUG JUT KEY KID KIN KIT LAB LAD LAG LAP LAW LAX LAY LED LEE LEG LET LID LIE LIP LIT LOG LOT LOW MAD MAN MAP MAR MAT MAX MAY MEN MET MEW MIT MIX MOB MOM MOP MOW MUD MUG NAP NAY NIL NIP NUN OAK OAR OAT ODD OFF OFT OHM OIL OLD ONE OUR OUT OWL PAL PAN PAY PEA PEN PEP PIE PIN PLY POI POP POX PUB PUN PUP QUO RAM RAT RAW RAY RED RID RIM ROD ROT ROW RUM RUT SAD SAT SAW SAY SET SEW SIR SIT SIX SKI SKY SLY SOD SOW SOY SUM TAR TAU TAX TOO TOW TOY TRY TWO VAN VAT VEX VIA VIE VOW WAD WAR WAS WAX WAY WED WET WIT WOO WOW YEA YON YOU ZIP ZOO

Carl G.

Carl G. performed an arpeggio on a keyboard and produced:

v v v v v v v

1: A E I O U Y 2: D G R S T W 3: B E G H N P

Puzzle as spoiler space...

Note: I did already see an answer posted, but I am including reasoning here...

First, we note that there are 18 faces, and 16 unique letters: ABD EGH INO PRS TUW Y

Further, since 'EGG' and 'SEE' are on the list, there are two Es and two Gs. We now have the complete set of letters.

Starting with these two words, we have: die 1: E die 2: E G die 3: G S

Now, consider GAG and GIG. This makes die 1: A E I Now, two dice have letters that only appear once. SAP, SIN, ASH give us: die 2: E G H N P PIT, PAW, PAR. PAT gives us the rest of die 3: D G R S T W POT, PUT, PRY finishes die 1: A E I O U Y and so the last letter, B, is in die 2.

Thus, the 'non-word' list was not needed, and only 15 words from the list were needed.

BAR, ASH, EGG, GAG, GIG, PAR, PAT, PAW, PIT, POT, PRY, PUT, SAP, SEE, SIN

I doubt this is the smallest word list needed- it may not even be minimal (I haven't checked carefully) Thus, I propose a new puzzle: Given the original word list, what is the smallest subset of them that you need to construct the dice?