Verbal Reasoning Related Words

A Related Words question gives you two pairs of words. One word is missing from each pair, and you pick it from a bracket.

Both pairs must be joined the same way. That way is a sentence, not a feeling.

The method

Five beats: read the outside two and say the link, try it and tighten it, fill the gap, check the kind, say it backwards.

Read the two words outside the brackets, then say the link. Those two are the only words you get free. Take the first word in the left bracket and say the link out loud, as a sentence with a verb in it. "Wood comes from a tree." Not "they go together."
Try that sentence on the right bracket, and tighten it. "Wool comes from ___." Soft? No. Knit? No. Jumper? No. That link is dead, so try the next left word. A sentence that fits two words is too loose: add one more word until only one is left. Step 2 is where the marks are.
Fill the gap in your head before you look. Say your word, then hunt for it.
Check the kind of word. A naming word pairs with a naming word.
Say it backwards. "A chair is made from wood, and a jumper is made from wool." If it works both ways, the direction is right.

About 35 to 40 seconds each. Nine joins is a lot to hold, so start on the left and work across.

Some papers give an easier version, with only one word missing. Same beats, starting at step 2.

💡 Worked example

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Caterpillar is to (butterfly cocoon crawl) as tadpole is to (frog hop green)

Group 1 — pick one

Group 2 — pick one

How to answer

Links to look for

There are three kinds. Children only hunt the first, so check all three.

Links of meaning.

Made from — a chair from wood.
Part of a whole — a rung on a ladder.
Young to grown-up — a lamb to a sheep.
The word for a group — a gaggle of geese.
Worker to their place, or to what they make — a poet and a poem.
Tool to its job — a saw cuts wood.
What it measures — a ruler measures length.
Weak to strong — a breeze to a gale.
Same meaning, or opposite meaning — brave and fearless.

Links of grammar. No meaning at all, and about one question in seven.

The tense changes — write to wrote.
One becomes many — mouse to mice.
The word changes shape — deep to depth, good to better.
A prefix goes on the front — visible to invisible.

Links of fact. You know them or you do not.

Capital cities — France and Paris.
Numbers — five and ten.

Watch for these traps

Every wrong word is almost your answer. They come in this order.

Right topic, wrong link. Much the most common. Ram is to (ewe horn wool) as stallion is to (mare foal saddle). A saddle goes with a stallion strongly, and that pull beats careful matching. But the link is male to female, so it is mare.
A piece of the thing. Apple is to (tree core pie). A core is part of an apple, so it passes a lazy "are these connected?" check. A piece is almost never right.
The wrong kind of word. Knit sits beside wool. Hop sits beside tadpole. Both are doing words where a naming word is wanted.
Same or opposite, the wrong way round. Miser is to (generous mean money). Here mean means the same as miser, when the opposite is wanted. Ravenous is to (hungry angry full) does it the other way round.
A near neighbour. Optician is to eyes as chiropodist is to (feet knees boots). Knees are nearly right. Nearly right is wrong.
Two words simply about the same thing. With both halves missing, any two words from one world feel linked. Horn and saddle are both farm gear, and neither is right.

If you do not know one of the words, work down this list rather than guessing:

Build the sentence from the pair you do understand.
Cross out pieces of the other word, and anything of the wrong kind.
Take the most ordinary survivor. Never leave it blank.

Try these yourself

Now have a go yourself — tap the two words that complete the analogy.

✏️ Question 1

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Ram is to (ewe horn wool) as stallion is to (mare foal saddle)

Group 1 — pick one

Group 2 — pick one

✏️ Question 2

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Good is to (goodness better goods) as bad is to (worse worst badly)

Group 1 — pick one

Group 2 — pick one

✏️ Question 3

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Rung is to (ladder step garden) as spoke is to (wheel tyre road)

Group 1 — pick one

Group 2 — pick one

✏️ Question 4

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way. Trickle is to (torrent drip tap) as smoulder is to (blaze smoke warmth)

Group 1 — pick one

Group 2 — pick one

The complete 11+ question-type guide
VR: Opposite Meaning — another two-group hunt, this time for opposites
VR: Compound Words — one word from each group again, but the meaning is a trap there

All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 15 arcade games, timed mock exams and focused practice. 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.