In this wordplay riddle, you are asked: "What do you call a bear without an ear?" Which playful answer best fits this puzzle?

Introduction / Context:
This question is a pure wordplay riddle that focuses on letters rather than animal biology. The phrase "bear without an ear" sounds like it is asking you to imagine a real bear missing one of its ears. However, the riddle is really asking you to remove the letters that spell "ear" from the written word "bear" and see what remains. Many verbal puzzles use this type of trick to test whether the learner thinks about the spelling of the word as well as its meaning.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The riddle says: "What do you call a bear without an ear?"
• The word "bear" is spelled b-e-a-r.
• We interpret "without an ear" both literally and as "without the letters e-a-r."
• We must choose the playful answer that matches the transformed word.

Concept / Approach:
The key idea is to treat "ear" as both a body part and a sequence of letters inside the word "bear." If we remove the letters e, a and r from the word "bear," we are left only with the letter b. The riddle expects you to perform this mental subtraction, recognise that b is what remains, and then realise that "a bear without an ear" becomes simply "b." This is a pun that joins spelling and meaning in a humorous way.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Write the word "bear" as a sequence of letters: b-e-a-r. Step 2: Identify the letters that form the word "ear": e-a-r. Step 3: Imagine removing the letters e, a and r from the spelling of "bear." Step 4: After removing those letters, the only letter that remains is "b." Step 5: Interpret the riddle's phrase "bear without an ear" as "the word bear with the letters e-a-r removed." Step 6: Conclude that the playful answer to the question is "B."

Verification / Alternative check:
To verify that this is not just a coincidence, check whether any other interpretation fits the wordplay. If you try to take the riddle literally and imagine a physical bear missing one of its ears, there is no special name for such an animal. The humour clearly comes from manipulating the letters inside the word. Removing the sequence "ear" from "bear" is a precise operation that gives "b" and nothing else. None of the other answer choices are directly connected to this spelling trick.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
"Cub" is the name for a young bear, not a bear missing an ear. "Polar bear" and "Grizzly" refer to species of bears and do not involve any wordplay with the letters e, a or r. These options would make sense only if the riddle were about types or ages of bears, but here the entire joke turns on removing "ear" from "bear." Therefore, they do not match the intended pun.

Common Pitfalls:
A frequent mistake is to think only in literal biological terms and search for some scientific or descriptive name for a bear that has lost an ear. Another pitfall is to ignore the spelling and overcomplicate the problem. Word riddles like this one often depend on seeing the question on the page and noticing how one word is hidden inside another. When you train yourself to pay attention to individual letters and common smaller words inside bigger ones, these puzzles become much easier.

Final Answer:
The riddle answer is the single letter B, because removing "ear" from "bear" leaves only "b."