The term 'used to be' can be expressed in a variety of ways. The crossword solutions for this term are 'EXISTED' (7 letters), 'were' (4 letters), 'was' (3 letters), 'timewas' (7 letters), and 'oncewas' (7 letters). All of these words indicate that something EXISTED in the past, but no longer exists in the present. 'EXISTED' implies that something was in existence at some point, while 'were' and 'was' indicate that something was in existence at a specific point in time. 'Timewas' and 'oncewas' both suggest that something used to exist, but no longer does.