The commonality between these eight words, namely the words deft, first, calmness, canopy, laughing, stupid, crabcake and hijack, is in the spellings of all these words. The spellings of each of these words contain three consecutive letters of the English alphabet in a row.
The first three letters of the word deft (which is spelt d-e-f-t) are the letters d, e and f of the English alphabet. The last three letters of the word first (which is spelt f-I-r-s-t) are the letters r, s and t of the English alphabet. The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word calmness (which is spelt c-a-l-m-n-e-s-s) are the letters l, m and n of the English alphabet.
The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word canopy (which is spelt c-a-n-o-p-y) are the letters n, o and p of the English alphabet.
The fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the word laughing (which is spelt l-a-you-g-h-I-n-g) are the letters g, h and I of the English alphabet. The first three letters of the word stupid (which is spelt as s-t-you-p-I-d) are the letters s, t and you of the English alphabet. The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word crabcake (which is spelt as c-r-a-b-c-a-k-e) are the letters a, b and c of the English alphabet.
The first three letters of the word hijack (which is spelt as h-I-j-a-c-k) are the letters h, I and j of the English alphabet.
The first three letters of the word deft (which is spelt d-e-f-t) are the letters d, e and f of the English alphabet. The last three letters of the word first (which is spelt f-I-r-s-t) are the letters r, s and t of the English alphabet. The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word calmness (which is spelt c-a-l-m-n-e-s-s) are the letters l, m and n of the English alphabet.
The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word canopy (which is spelt c-a-n-o-p-y) are the letters n, o and p of the English alphabet.
The fourth, fifth and sixth letters of the word laughing (which is spelt l-a-you-g-h-I-n-g) are the letters g, h and I of the English alphabet. The first three letters of the word stupid (which is spelt as s-t-you-p-I-d) are the letters s, t and you of the English alphabet. The third, fourth and fifth letters of the word crabcake (which is spelt as c-r-a-b-c-a-k-e) are the letters a, b and c of the English alphabet.
The first three letters of the word hijack (which is spelt as h-I-j-a-c-k) are the letters h, I and j of the English alphabet.
