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my $line = 'She was very absorbed in her homework.';
my $word = 'absorb';
...
$_=$line;
s/ ($word)//ig;
print "\$1 is $1\n";

#This also fails
s/(\b$word)//ig;
...
#or EVEN THIS!
my $pat = qr/$word/;
s/\b($word)//gi;