Verbal Reasoning Opposite Meaning
The POLES method in four minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
An Opposite Meaning question gives you two groups of three words. You find the two words, one from each group, that are most opposite in meaning, and mark both.
There is almost always a pair across the groups that means the same. It is there to catch a rushing eye. You are hunting the exact reverse.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question.
The method
Five steps: pick one from each group, one word against all three, look for the exact reverse, either way round, select both words — and their first letters spell POLES, because opposites are poles apart.
- Step 1 of 5
Pick one from each group
The answer is one word from the first group and one from the second. Two words in the same group can never be the answer, however opposite they are. - Step 2 of 5
One word against all three
Take each word in the first group and try it with every word in the second, in order. That is nine pairs. Don't stop at the first one that looks good. - Step 3 of 5
Look for the exact reverse
For each pair, ask: is one word the exact reverse of the other? Not the same. Not just linked, like two words from the same story. - Step 4 of 5
Either way round
Check the opposite works both ways. The opposite of the first word should be the second. The opposite of the second should be the first. A pair that works both ways beats one that only nearly works. - Step 5 of 5
Select both words
The answer is the pair, one word from each group. Mark both.
About 30 seconds each.
Watch for these traps
We worked through all 16 Opposite Meaning questions in GL's own practice papers. Every one of them plants a pair that means the same.
- Same or linked is not opposite. In (timid brave cheerful) (cowardly gentle proud), timid and cowardly mean the same, and timid and gentle just go together. Neither is an opposite.
- Most opposite beats nearly opposite. In (alert drowsy awake) (asleep angry calm), alert and asleep are nearly opposite. But awake and asleep are opposites either way round, so they win. GL often plants a nearly-opposite pair like this.
- A pair inside one group never counts. Timid and brave are opposites, but they are both in the first group. The answer there is brave and cowardly. 7 of GL's 16 questions put an opposite pair inside one group.
- A word can have a second meaning. Hard can mean not soft, or not easy. If soft isn't there, look for easy. In 3 of GL's 16, the answer only works with a word's second meaning.
Stuck? Cross out the pairs that mean the same, and any pair inside one group. In GL's papers the two answer words are always the same kind of word, so a doing word needs a doing word. Then choose the most opposite of what is left. Never leave it blank.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the two words that are opposite.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- VR: Closest Meaning — the same two groups, hunting the pair that means the same
- VR: Odd One Out — find the two words that don't go with the other three
All example questions come from the Brainblox question bank — practise this question type inside 25+ learning 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.