How to Answer Every 11+ Question Type: The Complete VR & NVR Guide

Most 11+ exams include English and Maths papers too. This guide covers the two reasoning papers. Verbal Reasoning (VR) is made of puzzles built from words, letters and numbers. Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR) is made of puzzles built from shapes and patterns. Most children never meet either kind at school.

The good news: every question in the reasoning papers belongs to a small family of question types, and every type has a method. Once you know the method, a question that looked impossible becomes a routine you've done fifty times.

This guide covers every VR and NVR type, one at a time. For each one you get a real example question, the step-by-step method, and, for most types, the trap people fall into.

The four golden rules (they work on every question)

1. Read the question twice before you look at the answers. Know exactly what you're hunting for. A lot of wrong answers are really right answers to a slightly different question.

2. Cross out the impossible answers first. You'll usually be left with just two to think hard about. Elimination is faster than working forwards, and it works even when you're stuck.

3. Try each answer like a key in a lock. If you can't work forwards from the question, work backwards from the options — one of them will click.

4. In the exam, never leave a blank. There are no marks taken away for wrong answers, so an educated guess after crossing out two options is always better than an empty box.

Some papers give you answer options to choose from. Others ask you to write the answer yourself. Rules 2 and 3 only work when options are printed — on a write-in paper, lean harder on rule 1 and on the method for that type.

Part 1: Word meaning

Closest Meaning (synonyms)

What it looks like:

Choose the word most similar in meaning to: FRAGILE A. delicate B. sturdy C. dusty D. spare

The method:

1. Cover the answers and think of your own similar word first — "fragile means easily broken… delicate."
2. Now look for your word in the list: delicate. Done.

The trap: opposites planted in the answers. "Sturdy" is sitting right there for fast fingers — it's related to fragile, but it's the opposite. Thinking of your own word first is what protects you.

Closest Meaning pairs (one word from each group)

What it looks like:

Choose one word from each group that are closest in meaning. (jolly, grumpy, brave) (merry, tired, gentle)

The method:

1. Take each word in the first group and hunt the second group for a partner.
2. jolly → merry? Both mean cheerful — yes. grumpy → tired? Not the same thing. brave → gentle? No.
3. Answer: jolly and merry.

The trap: finding two words that go together in a story ("grumpy" and "tired" feel like they belong together) rather than two words that mean the same thing. The test is meaning, not mood.

Opposite Meaning (antonyms)

What it looks like:

Choose the word most opposite in meaning to: GATHER A. collect B. scatter C. bundle D. wander

The method:

1. Flip the word in your head: to gather is to bring together, so the opposite is to spread apart.
2. Find that in the list: scatter.

The trap: the sneakiest wrong answer is a word that means nearly the same — "collect" is the twin, not the opposite. Read the question again before you commit: similar or opposite?

Opposite Meaning pairs (one word from each group)

What it looks like:

Choose one word from each group that are most opposite in meaning. (sticky, sweet, gloomy) (juicy, bitter, tender)

The method:

1. Pick a word from the first group and hunt the second group for its opposite.
2. sweet → bitter? Yes — those are true opposites of taste. Answer: sweet and bitter.
3. Check no other pairing is more opposite. sticky → juicy? gloomy → tender? Neither is a real opposite pair.

The trap: a pair that means the same planted among the options. If two words feel like a natural pair, stop and ask: same or opposite? The question wants opposite.

Odd one out (words)

What it looks like:

Which word is the odd one out? A. plum B. cherry C. rhubarb D. peach

The method:

1. Find the job most of the words share: plum, cherry and peach are fruits.
2. The odd one has a different job: rhubarb is a vegetable stalk. Answer: rhubarb.
3. Test your rule on all the words. If it knocks out two, your rule is wrong — find a sharper one.

Some versions give you five words and ask which TWO do not belong, and the options are then pairs of words. Find the tight group of three first; the two left over are your answer. Read the instruction before you start — it tells you how many rule-breakers to hunt.

The trap: picking a word that's different in an accidental way (the longest word, the only one with an H). The rule the examiner set is about meaning.

Related Words

What it looks like:

Wasp is to swarm as fish is to ? A. shoal B. river C. scale D. fin

The method:

1. Make a sentence from the first pair that says the connection out loud: "a group of wasps is called a swarm."
2. Reuse the same sentence for the second pair: "a group of fish is called a…" shoal.
3. If two answers seem to fit, your sentence isn't precise enough. "A fish lives in a river" is a true sentence — but it's not the group connection the first pair set up.

The trap: picking an answer that's related to fish (fin, scale) instead of one that copies the relationship. The question is about the connection, not the topic.

Related Words (one from each bracket)

What it looks like:

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Write is to (wrote, writer, writes) as ride is to (ridden, riding, rode)

The method:

1. Work out the connection using the first bracket: write → wrote is the past tense.
2. Apply the same connection to the second: the past tense of ride is rode.
3. Answer: wrote and rode.

The trap: "ridden" and "riding" are both real forms of ride — but they don't copy the exact relationship. Name the connection precisely ("simple past tense") before you pick.

Double meanings

What it looks like:

Only one of the five answers goes equally well with both pairs of words. (field, ground) (throw, hurl) A. toss B. bowl C. meadow D. lawn E. pitch

The method:

1. Say each option next to the first pair: which ones can mean field/ground? → meadow, lawn, pitch.
2. Now say the survivors next to the second pair: which can mean throw/hurl? → pitch.
3. Only one word works twice: a cricket pitch, and to pitch a ball.

The trap: choosing a word that fits one pair brilliantly and the other not at all. "Meadow" is a perfect match for the first pair — and useless for the second. Both sides must work.

Compound words

What it looks like:

Choose one word from each group that together make a real word. (bus, car, van) (cub, hen, pet)

The method:

1. Stick pairs together and say the result out loud — real words sound right straight away.
2. bus+cub? bus+pet? car+cub? car+pet = CARPET. Found it.
3. The joined word usually has nothing to do with either part — a carpet is not a pet car. Don't look for meaning; listen for a real word.

The trap: stopping at something that nearly sounds like a word. Say the whole thing — "vancub" falls apart the moment it leaves your mouth.

Part 2: Letters and word-building

Hidden Word

What it looks like:

Find the pair of words that contains a hidden four-letter word. "The old bus carried tourists uphill." A. The old B. old bus C. bus carried D. carried tourists E. tourists uphill

The method:

1. The hidden word always sits across the crack between two words — the end of one word plus the start of the next. That is why the options are the side-by-side word pairs.
2. Check each crack in turn. The four letters can split any way across the join: 1 and 3, 2 and 2, or 3 and 1. "The old" → heol, no. "old bus" → ldbu, no. "bus carried" → s + car = scar. Found it.
3. Say the sentence smoothly without gaps — hidden words often jump out when you hear them.
4. Now pick the pair, not the word. The answer is C, bus carried — the box never asks you for scar itself.

The trap: hunting inside single words. The word is always split across two — if you are looking inside one word, you are looking in the wrong place.

Move a letter

What it looks like:

Take one letter out of the first word and add it to the second word, so that both are still real words. DRINK → ICED A. d B. r C. i D. n E. k

The method:

1. Try removing each letter from DRINK in turn and check what's left is still a word: without D → RINK ✓.
2. Now add that letter to the second word: D + ICED → DICED ✓.
3. Both are real words, so the answer is d.

The trap: stopping when only one side works. Removing K leaves DRIN — not a word — so K is out even before you test the second half. The letter must pass both checks.

Complete the Word

What it looks like:

Three letters have been taken out of the word in capitals. Find them. "A heavy SER soaked the garden." A. HOW B. PIG C. MAT D. CUP E. JAM

The method:

1. Read the sentence for meaning first — something heavy that soaks a garden. You're expecting a word like shower or downpour.
2. The three letters slot into the capitals in one unbroken chunk: S _ _ _ ER.
3. Try the options in the gap: S + HOW + ER = SHOWER ✓.
4. Read the whole sentence back with your word in it. It should make sense.

The trap: ignoring the sentence and just fiddling with letters. The sentence tells you what the finished word means — use it.

Letter Connections

What it looks like:

The same letter finishes the first word and starts the second, in both pairs. as [?] it des [?] ey A. k B. t C. d D. n E. s

The method:

1. Take the first pair and try each option out loud: as+k = ask, k+it = kit — both real.
2. Confirm on the second pair with the same letter: des+k = desk, k+ey = key — both real. Answer: k.
3. If a letter works on one pair but not the other, it's wrong. The same letter must work all four times.

The trap: the half-fit — a letter that works beautifully on the first pair and fails on the second. Always test all four words before you commit.

Word pairs (spot the letter trick)

What it looks like:

Watch how the first word changes into the second in both pairs. Do the same to the new word. barn → bar beans → bean tramp → ? A. pram B. tram C. ramp D. mart E. art

The method:

1. Compare the first pair letter by letter: barn → bar. The last letter was dropped.
2. Check the rule holds on the second pair: beans → bean. Last letter dropped again ✓.
3. Apply the same trick to the new word: tramp → tram.

The trap: the wrong options are made of the same letters rearranged (ramp, mart, art) — anagram bait. The rule isn't "use these letters"; it's the exact trick you saw twice: which letters were kept, dropped or moved.

Make a Word

What it looks like:

Find the missing word in the second group, which follows the same pattern as the first. (ham [had] dog) (lad [?] pen) A. lad B. lid C. lap D. lip E. map

The method:

1. Work out how the middle word was built from the two outer words in the first group. HAD = ha (first two letters of ham) + d (first letter of dog).
2. Apply the very same recipe to the second group: la (first two of lad) + p (first of pen) = LAP.
3. Check your answer is actually in the options: lap ✓.

The trap: finding a rule that works instead of the rule. Letters can be borrowed from the start, end or middle of either word — pin down exactly which positions the first group used before touching the second.

Part 3: Codes

Letter codes

What it looks like:

If the code for CAT is DBU (each letter moves on one), what is the code for DOG? A. EPH B. CPF C. EOH D. EPG

The method:

1. Line the word and its code up letter by letter: C→D, A→B, T→U.
2. Count the jump for each letter along the alphabet. Here every letter moves forward one.
3. Apply the same jump to the new word: D→E, O→P, G→H.
4. Answer: EPH.

Many papers print the alphabet at the top of the page for letter questions — look for it first. If it isn't there, write ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ in the margin of your booklet as soon as you reach the first letter question. Most letter puzzles are secretly counting puzzles.

The trap: assuming the jump is the same for every letter without checking. Some harder codes move the first letter +1, the second +2, and so on. Check two letters before you trust the rule.

Alphabet code (A=1, B=2 …)

What it looks like:

Using A=1, B=2, C=3 … which word do the numbers 3, 1, 20 spell? A. DOG B. CAT C. BAT D. COT

The method:

1. Turn each number back into its letter: 3=C, 1=A, 20=T.
2. Read the word: CAT.

Worth memorising before exam day: A=1, E=5, J=10, O=15, T=20, Z=26. With those six anchor points you can find any letter quickly by counting a step or two, instead of counting all the way from A.

The trap: splitting a two-digit number. In this code 12 means L, not "1 then 2" (which would be A then B). Read the numbers as they are written.

Number codes (the hard one)

What it looks like:

Three of these four words are given in code. The codes are not written in the same order as the words, and one code is missing.

COAT TORN BORN CORN 6547 3512 2547

Find the code for CORN.

The method:

1. Look for what repeats. Three of the words end in -ORN, so their codes must share the same last three digits. Codes 6547 and 2547 both end in 547 — so O=5, R=4, N=7.
2. Identify the leftover. 3512 doesn't end in 547, so it must be COAT → C=3, O=5, A=1, T=2. (Check: the O=5 matches. Good.)
3. Use the new letters. TORN starts with T, and T=2 — so 2547 is TORN, which means 6547 is BORN.
4. Build the answer from the letters you've cracked: C(3) O(5) R(4) N(7) = 3547.

The trap: matching the first code to the first word. The question tells you the codes are shuffled — the whole puzzle is working out which code belongs to which word. Repeated letters (and repeated word-endings) are the way in.

Part 4: Maths in disguise

Letter and number series

What they look like:

What comes next? 6, 13, 20, 27, ? A. 33 B. 34 C. 36 D. 35

What comes next? K, N, Q, T, ? A. V B. W C. X D. U

The method:

1. Work out the jump between each pair of terms. 6→13 is +7, 13→20 is +7, 20→27 is +7. The rule is +7, so the answer is 27 + 7 = 34.
2. Letter series are alphabet maths. K→N skips two letters, N→Q skips two, Q→T skips two — so the next is W.
3. If the jumps aren't all the same, check the next most common patterns: doubling, or two sequences taking turns (look at every other term).

Two other shapes turn up under this same heading.

Sometimes the letters come in pairs: BG, CJ, DM, EP, ? Track the two letters as two separate sequences. The first letters go B, C, D, E — that's +1 each. The second letters go G, J, M, P — that's +3 each. So the next pair is FS.

Sometimes it is set out as an analogy instead: "JK is to LM as ST is to ?" Nothing is continuing here. Measure the jump inside the first pair — J→L and K→M is +2 each — then do that same jump to the third pair. ST becomes UV.

The trap: in letter series, miscounting the jump. "Skip two letters" and "+3 positions" are the same thing — pick one way of counting and stick to it.

Letters for Numbers

What it looks like:

If A = 4, B = 9, C = 13, D = 20, E = 36, what is the answer to this sum, written as a letter? A + B = [?]

The method:

1. Swap the letters for their numbers: A + B = 4 + 9 = 13.
2. Now swap the result back into a letter: 13 = C.
3. That last step is the whole point — the answer sheet wants a letter, not a number.

The trap: doing the maths perfectly and then writing 13. Always convert back. And note these values are given in the question — this is not the A=1, B=2 alphabet code.

Complete the Sum

What it looks like:

Find the number that balances both sides. 24 ÷ 4 = 5 × 4 − [?] A. 14 B. 6 C. 20 D. 12 E. 16

The method:

1. Both sides of the equals sign must be worth the same. Work out the full left side first: 24 ÷ 4 = 6.
2. Now build the right side to match: 5 × 4 = 20, and 20 − [?] must equal 6.
3. So [?] = 14.

The trap: picking 6 — the value of the left side — instead of the number that makes the right side equal 6. The question asks for the missing number, not the total.

Part 5: Reading Information

GL groups two closely-related question types under Reading Information. Some give you a set of facts and ask you to work out the one answer they lead to; others give you facts and five statements and ask which one must be true. It's the same skill — read carefully, use only what's written, follow the links — in two flavours.

Reading Information: work out the answer

What it looks like:

Emma has 12 pencils. Jack has 5 fewer pencils than Mia. Mia has 3 more pencils than Emma. How many pencils does Jack have? A. 8 B. 10 C. 12 D. 7 E. 15

The method:

1. Deal with one clue at a time, completely, before moving on — and start from the person you actually know: Emma has 12.
2. Chain outwards: Mia has 3 more than Emma → 12 + 3 = 15.
3. Jack has 5 fewer than Mia → 15 − 5 = 10.
4. Notice the clues came in the "wrong" order — the Jack clue is first but must be solved last. Reorder them so each step uses a number you already have.

The trap: trying to hold all three clues in your head at once. Write the numbers down as you find them: Emma 12, Mia 15, Jack 10.

Reading Information: what MUST be true?

What it looks like:

A bus service runs between Market Street and the Station. Buses depart Market Street at 10, 25 and 50 minutes past each hour. The first bus leaves at 7.10 am and the last bus leaves at 10.50 pm. The journey takes 15 minutes. On Sundays, the service does not run before 9 am.

All of the information above is true. Exactly one sentence below must be true as well — which one? A. Buses run every 15 minutes throughout the service. B. A bus arrives at the Station at 7.15 am on weekdays. C. A bus leaves Market Street at 7.30 am on Mondays. D. On Sundays, the first bus leaves Market Street at 9.10 am. E. The last bus arrives at the Station at 11.10 pm.

The method:

1. This type is elimination all the way: test each option against the facts and knock out anything that fails.
2. A: the gaps between :10, :25 and :50 are 15, 25 and 20 minutes — not always 15. ✗
3. B: the first bus leaves 7.10 and takes 15 minutes, arriving 7.25 — not 7.15. ✗
4. C: there is no :30 departure slot at all. ✗
5. D: on Sundays nothing runs before 9 am, so the first valid slot is 9.10 am. This must be true. ✓
6. E: 10.50 pm + 15 minutes = 11.05 pm, not 11.10. ✗

The trap: picking an answer that could be true. The exam wants what must be true, using only the facts given. If you find yourself adding "well, probably…", it's the wrong answer.

Part 6: Non-Verbal Reasoning

NVR questions are drawn, not written — but the methods are just as learnable. Whatever the type, the rule is always hiding in a short list of features. There are six, and one chant locks them in: "Shape, Shade, Size — Count, Place, Turn." Check them one at a time:

• Shape — what is it? How many sides?
• Shade — white, black, striped, dotted?
• Size — bigger, smaller, same?
• Count — how many shapes, dots, lines?
• Place — where in the box? Has it moved?
• Turn — which way does it point? Has it turned or flipped?

Series (what comes next?)

What it looks like:

The method:

1. Work out the move from box 1 to box 2. Does the same move happen from box 2 to box 3? Then that's your rule — use it to predict the next box.
2. Count things: dots, sides, stripes. Series very often add or remove exactly one each step. Here, count the sides: 3, 4, 5, 6…
3. So the next figure needs 7 sides — answer A, the seven-sided shape.
4. If something is spinning instead, pick one arm or mark and track where it points in each box, like watching a clock hand.

The trap: option B is a hexagon — the same as the last box. A series answer is almost never a straight repeat of the box before the gap; the rule must keep moving. Check it fits every step, not just the last one.

Shape analogies

What it looks like:

The method:

1. Work out what happened to the first shape to make the second: did it grow or shrink? Flip? Change shading? Gain or lose a part? Here the small circle simply grew.
2. Say it like a sentence: "small circle becomes big circle… so small square becomes big square." Answer: A.
3. Do exactly the same set of changes to the third shape — all of them, not just the most obvious one. If the first shape had grown and turned black, your answer must do both.

The trap: spotting one change and stopping. When two things change at once, the wrong options are usually the ones that got only the obvious change right. List every change before you look at the options.

Matrices (the missing square)

What it looks like:

The method:

1. Read the grid like a book: what changes along the row? Here the shading goes white → grey → black.
2. What changes down the column? The shape goes circle → square → triangle.
3. The missing square has to obey both rules at once: third row means triangle, third column means black. Answer: A, the black triangle.
4. Test each feature on its own: does the row change the shape? The shading? The size? Fix one at a time.

The trap: option D — the black square — obeys the row rule (it is black, which is what the third column needs) but not the column rule (the bottom row is triangles). Half-right is the examiner's favourite wrong answer.

Odd one out (shapes)

What it looks like:

The method:

1. Find the rule that most of the shapes share — count sides, check shading, look at direction. Here three of the four are filled in.
2. The star is the only empty one. Answer: D.
3. Test your rule on every shape. It should catch exactly one rule-breaker. If it knocks out two, your rule is wrong — find a sharper one.

The trap: the star also looks different because it's spiky — so is the rule spiky or empty? Check the others: the circle, square and triangle are all different shapes too, so shape can't be the rule. But they're all filled — and the star isn't. Shading is the rule that's left standing.

Similarities (join the club)

What it looks like: two or three example figures that belong to a secret club, and five options. Pick the figure that could join the club.

The method:

1. Find the club rule. The examples here are two black pentagons of different sizes — so size isn't the rule; black + five sides is.
2. Pick the only option that obeys the whole rule: A.
3. The club members don't have to look alike. Count sides, count parts, check shading — the rule is often a number.

The trap: letting one flashy feature distract you. If the examples vary in size, size is not part of the rule — what varies between the examples is exactly what you can ignore. Options B and E are pentagons but white; the rule needs both halves.

Shape codes

What it looks like:

The method:

1. Each code letter stands for one feature. Find two shapes that share a letter — whatever they have in common is what that letter means. Both squares have S on top → S means square. Both grey shapes have H underneath → H means grey.
2. That unlocks the rest: P must be hexagon, F must be black.
3. Read off the code for the boxed shape — a black hexagon → P on top, F underneath. Answer: A, PF.

The trap: option D, SH, describes the first shape you looked at, not the boxed one. Once the code is cracked, slow down and apply it to the right figure.

Exam technique: the last 10%

Time per question is short — about 35 to 40 seconds on a typical paper. That's the design, not a disaster. Nobody is expected to finish comfortably.

• If a question won't crack in about 40 seconds, skip it and move on. One stubborn question can quietly eat the time for five easy ones later. Mark it, come back at the end.
• Answer everything before time is called. No marks are deducted for wrong answers, so cross out what you can and guess from what's left.
• Do the checkable step. Most methods in this guide end with a check that takes five seconds — read the sentence back, test the second pair, re-count the jump. That check is where careless marks come back.
• Practise little and often. Ten focused minutes a day beats a two-hour marathon at the weekend — these are skills, and skills grow with reps, not cramming.

Go deeper: a full guide for every question type

Every type on this page has an in-depth guide. There are 24 of them, one for nearly every type on this page — with two shortcuts: the quick alphabet-code trick above (A=1, B=2…) stays here in this master guide rather than getting its own page, and the Closest Meaning, Opposite Meaning and Related Words guides work through the two-group form in depth (pick one word from each group), with the same method carrying over to the single-word form shown above. The word, letter, code, maths and reading-information guides each give you at least three fully worked examples, the traps, and practice questions to try yourself. The Non-Verbal guides give you worked examples, the traps, and a full list of the rules you'll meet.

Word meaning: Closest Meaning · Opposite Meaning · Odd One Out · Related Words · Double Meanings · Compound Words

Letters and word-building: Hidden Word · Move a Letter · Complete the Word · Letter Connections · Word Pairs · Make a Word

Codes: Letter Codes · Number Codes

Maths in disguise: Number Series · Letter Series · Letter Analogies · Letters for Numbers · Complete the Sum

Reading Information: Reading Information — work out the answer, or decide what must be true

Non-Verbal Reasoning: Series · Analogies · Matrices · Odd One Out · Similarities · Shape Codes

Spatial Reasoning: 2D Views · Different Views · Cube Views · 3D Rotation · Building Blocks · Cubes and Nets · Shaded Nets · Folding · Fold and Punch · Hidden Shapes · Connecting Shapes · Complete the Shape

Practise every type in this guide

Almost every question type on this page is practised inside Brainblox: 11+ Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning across 15 arcade games and full timed mock exams (80 questions in 50 minutes), plus a daily 10-minute challenge and practice that re-serves the exact questions you got wrong. Each type is served by the games that suit it, so no single type appears in all 15. The two-bracket questions — where you pick one word from each of two groups — live in the mock exams and in practice rather than in the games, because a two-column answer doesn't fit an arcade game. When you miss a question, a tip appears teaching the method — the same methods in this guide.

All example questions on this page come from the Brainblox question bank. Brainblox is an independent app: not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any exam board, school or assessment publisher, and it contains no past papers. Question content follows the formats used in UK 11+ entrance exams.