could someone help me with a mask?

I've read through the docs several times and they are a bit limited on examples.  I have a couple of words the password might contain and I would like to run through those possible combinations first before an all out brute force attack.  I am trying to run in incremental mode.

I am only getting a very limited keyspace from my mask file.  Obviously something is off.  Please help.

?a?a?a?a?acheeseburger?a?a?a?a?a?a
?a?a?a?a?abattleship?a?a?a?a?a?a
?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a?a

I have tried adding commas and other things but no dice.  All of the examples have partial words at the beginning, not the middle, so I do not know how that affects it.  I would also like to run through combinations will no, 1, 2, 3, and 4 characters at the beginning and end and combinations thereof.

Thank you for any help.