I have Reasons for not doing that.
Since we're at the point I can talk about words a bit more openly (seeing as 71 turns have gone past), I'm considering a bit of a change.
Up until now, pretty much every single spell that does something results in a physical object (the glows, ley lines, and grey fogs being the exceptions seen so far.) This is because I interpret the words heavily toward creating a physical object. That's cool and all, but what about the cool spells that can be done that don't result in a physical object?
Let's take a word that has been seen- Hover. Previously, if you said "Hover Steel" you'd get a chunk of steel that just floats there. That's cool and all, but what if you wanted to make an existing piece of steel float? In the original, you'd either mark it with the hover word or use a control item.
What if, instead, "Hover Steel" made steel in the target area float?
That you know of, there's no pure spell way to do that. I think it might be interesting to alter the way words similar to "Hover" to act differently if not bound to a form. "Hover Steel Cat" would still get you a floating steel cat, but if you said "Steel Cat" then "Hover Steel" then the cat would start floating (for a time- not permanently.) Now if you just said "Hover," nothing would happen as it does now.
Let's take a couple more example words that may or may not exist: Repair and Convert. Now, if you said "Repair Flesh" you'd just get a hunk of flesh that didn't do anything special- words that don't make sense in the spell just "burn off." But I think everyone would like that to be a heal spell, right? Now, if you said "Repair Flesh Staff," you'd get a staff of flesh that healed flesh you smacked with it.
Convert would require two element words to work. "Convert Steel Air" would make that steel sword being waved at you a lot less threatening. "Convert Steel" wouldn't make sense and would get nothing (though steel in the target area might shudder or something to give you a hint.)
The only question is what is a reasonable defense against this action? Assuming a "Break" word exists, "Break Flesh" would be a general all-purpose attack spell. Is that just an End roll to resist? What about "Break Steel" against that nice steel armor set you're wearing? Do I give the items an End roll? A Will roll is a sensible first suggestion, but it really makes no sense in context for equipment.
Thoughts? Opinions? Derisive laughter?