BOARD is a hinge word: 7 words make a compound in front of it and 2 make one after it, so it can sit in the middle of a chain and hold two compounds together at once.
Each of these makes a compound ending in BOARD.
Each of these makes a compound starting with BOARD.
BOARD started as a plank and grew into a surface, a committee and a verb. That spread is why SURFBOARD, CARDBOARD and BOARDWALK all work with the same five letters.
Put any word from the first list in front and any word from the second behind, and you have a three-word chain in which both neighbouring pairs join. Here are some of them.
BACK → BOARD → ROOM — backboard and boardroomBLACK → BOARD → WALK — blackboard and boardwalkKEYSTONE is a free daily puzzle built entirely out of chains like these. You get the two ends and have to fill the two words in the middle. Three bridges a day, no account, no cookies.
Each of these has a page like this one. There is also an index of all 28.
BACK · BALL · BED · BOOK · BREAK · DAY · DOWN · FALL · FIRE · GUN · HAND · HEAD · HOUSE · LAND · LIFE · LIGHT · MAN · NIGHT · OFF · OUT · OVER · SHIP · SIDE · SOME · TIME · WAY · WORK