Verbal Reasoning Letter Connections
The FOUR method in under four minutes — one real question, solved step by step.
A Letter Connections question gives you two pairs of word parts, with a gap in brackets in the middle of each pair. You choose from five letters. The same letter has to fit both gaps. At each gap it finishes the word in front and starts the word after.
So one letter makes four words, and all four have to be real.
The video above and the worked example below take apart the same question. One thing is different: the video shows the five letters in another order, so the answer, d, is lettered E in the video and may carry a different letter here. Same answer, different place in the line-up.
The method
Four steps: finish one word and start the next, one place first, use each survivor in all four places, read all four words — and their first letters spell FOUR: one letter, four words.
- Step 1 of 4
Finish one word, start the next
The letter has to finish the word in front of each bracket and start the word after it, in both pairs. That is four words from one letter. - Step 2 of 4
One place first: in front of a bracket
Try all five letters on the end of a word in front of a bracket. That is where most wrong letters fail. Keep only the ones that make a real word. - Step 3 of 4
Use each survivor in all four places
Take each letter that is left round all four places. It is out at the first word that fails, even if it has already made three. - Step 4 of 4
Read all four words
One letter, four real words. That is your answer.
About 30 seconds each.
Watch for these traps
We worked through all 14 Letter Connections questions in GL's own practice papers. Most of their wrong letters still make real words, so every one of the four places matters.
- It must finish the word in front too. Starting both words after the brackets isn't enough. In shru [?] aze · clin [?] own, d starts daze and down, but it can't finish either word in front of the brackets. In GL's papers this is the most common kind of wrong letter.
- Check both pairs. One whole pair isn't enough. In co [?] ake · absor [?] lister, t makes cot and take, so the first pair works. But it fails both words in the second pair. In 9 of GL's 14 questions, the first pair on its own leaves two or more letters standing.
- Three out of four is still wrong. Every one of the four words must be real. In ar [?] ore · fir [?] ile, t makes art, tore and tile, but there's no word with fir.
Stuck? Go back to step 2 and try all five letters in front of the other bracket. 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.
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
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.