Verbal Reasoning Letter Connections
A Letter Connections question gives you two pairs of brackets and five letters. One letter has to do two jobs at every bracket. It finishes the word in front. It starts the word behind.
Say the rule before you start: one letter, four words, and all four have to be real.
Only one of the five letters can do that, so once you have found it there is nothing to weigh it against. This is a hunt, not a choice.
The method
Five beats: say the rule, find the tightest gap, name the letters that fit, try all four slots, say the four words.
- Say the rule. One letter, four words, all four real. Four words, not two.
- Find the tightest gap. Look at all four fragments. Pick the one that the fewest letters fit. A long fragment is usually tight. A two-letter one almost never is.
- Name the letters that fit it. Take them from the option list, not from your head. Usually only one or two survive.
- Try all four slots. Take each survivor round all four. Kill it the second one word fails, and never finish checking a letter that has already died. That is where the time goes.
- Say the four words out loud. "Bend. Dusk. Head. Drag." Four real words, one letter, done.
About 30 seconds each.
💡 Worked example
Find the letter that fits into both pairs of brackets:
as [?] it des [?] ey
How to answer
Rules to watch
- The five letters are rarely five fresh ideas. Across our 35 questions, t, d, n and s fill 99 of the 140 wrong slots. They end most English words, so they always look possible.
- The odd-looking letter is worth trying early. In 26 of our 35 questions the answer is not t, d, n or s — our answers include x, w, h, c, g and f. Treat it as a place to start, not a rule: in the other 9 the answer really is one of the four.
- Some letters die on sight. English words essentially never end in i, u, v or j. If one is offered, it cannot go in front of a bracket. Cross it out before you read the words.
- The tightest gap is usually a long one. Almost nothing fits in front of ettle, itten, heatre or ylophone. Dozens of letters fit as, ar, co or bo. Go where the choices are fewest.
Watch for these traps
- The half-fit. Much the most common, and built on purpose. A letter makes some of the four words, then dies. The worst kind sails clean through a whole pair, as t did above. Another kind finishes both left-hand words and starts neither right-hand one: in stin [?] ift · flin [?] lue, t gives stint and flint, then stops dead. Relief is the danger here — the moment one pair works, the word both fades out of the instruction.
- Starting at the left. The left fragment is written first, so the eye starts there, and it is often the least helpful thing on the page. In as [?] it, both s and k work, so you would still have to go elsewhere to decide.
- A fragment that is already a word. Ore, all, ill, air, ark, awn, old and ent all read as finished. Nothing looks like it needs a letter, so the eye slides past. Every bracket needs a letter, even when both sides look complete.
- Trusting your ears. Some joins are silent or just look odd: the k in knee, the b in thumb, the x in xylophone. And eigh plus t makes eight, which sounds nothing like either piece. Judge these with your eyes.
- Rejecting a real word you would not use. Arc, cob, zinc, quirk, myth, booth, gulf and churn are all real words. All of them are correct answers in our bank. "I never say that" is not the same as "that is not a word".
If nothing comes, work down this list rather than guessing:
- Cross out i, u, v and j. They cannot end a word.
- Go to the longest fragment and ask which letters sit against it. Try the odd-looking one first.
- Take each survivor round all four slots, then choose from what is left. Never leave it blank.
Try these yourself
Now have a go yourself — tap the word that fits both pairs.
✏️ Question 1
Find the letter that fits into both pairs of brackets:
ar [?] ore fir [?] ile
The answer is m
ore is already a word. It looks finished, so it gives you nothing. T is the trap. It makes art and tore, which is the whole first pair, then dies on firt. Start at fir instead. Far fewer letters work there, and m turns up at once. Four words: arm, more, firm, mile.
✏️ Question 2
Find the letter that fits into both pairs of brackets:
stin [?] ift flin [?] lue
The answer is g
t makes stint and flint. Both left-hand words work and neither right-hand one does. That is the half-fit in its purest form. G gives sting, gift, fling, glue.
✏️ Question 3
Find the letter that fits into both pairs of brackets:
for [?] nee mil [?] ick
The answer is k
nee is the tightest gap on the page. Nothing but k can sit in front of it. The k in knee is silent, so your ear says no and your eyes have to overrule it. Then check the rest: fork, milk, kick. D is the near miss. It makes ford and mild, both left-hand words, and neither right-hand one.
✏️ Question 4
Find the letter that fits into both pairs of brackets:
hoa [?] enon sphin [?] ylophone
The answer is x
three of these five letters are t, d and s, and none of them goes anywhere. X is the odd one in the list. The odd one is where to look first: hoax, xenon, sphinx, xylophone.
Related
- The complete 11+ question-type guide
- VR: Move a Letter — shift one letter to make two new words
- VR: Complete the Word — rebuild a word that has lost a chunk
- VR: Make a Word — build the middle word from two outer words
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