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The modular construction method provides a feasible way to construct pre-designed cyano-bridged {LnIIIMIV/V} systems with more attractive structures and adjustable interactions between 4d/5d and 4f ions. In this work, the pentadentate Schiff-base ligands H2Ln (H2L1: 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(nicotinoylhydrazone); H2L2: 2,6-diacetylpyridine bis(isonicotinoylhydrazone)) with multiple coordination sites were designed to coordinate with DyIII ions firstly, and then combined with K4M(CN)8·2H2O (M = W, Mo) by a liquid–liquid diffusion method to successfully synthesize two trinuclear structures {Dy[MIV(CN)8]0.5(HL1)(H2O)3}2·8H2O (1: M = W; 2: M = Mo), and two dinuclear structures {[Dy[MIV(CN)8](H3L2)(H2O)3]}·sol (3: M = W, sol = 11.5H2O; 4: M = Mo, sol = 2CH3OH·9.5H2O). Interestingly, deprotonation occurs in ligand H2L1 during the formation of complexes 1 and 2, while deprotonation/protonation processes both occur in ligand H2L2 during the synthesis of complexes 3 and 4. Magnetic analyses reveal that complexes 1–4 are all field-induced single-ion magnets (SIMs). The energy barriers (Ueff/kB) of complexes 1 and 2 are 92.83 K and 101.08 K, respectively, which are nearly three-fold higher than those of complexes 3 (30.19 K) and 4 (32.77 K). Ab initio calculations were performed on these series of {LnIIIMIV} heteronuclear complexes to provide more insights into the magnetic relaxation properties. This work provides another example of improving the SMM behaviors of cyano-bridged {LnIIIMIV} systems by deprotonation/protonation at different sites in the ligands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]