How to Answer 11+ Hidden Word in Sentence Questions

In this question type you get a perfectly ordinary sentence — and a small word is hiding in it. The trick is that the hidden word does not sit inside any single word. It sits across the gap between two words: the end of one word joined to the start of the next. Say "so far" and you have also said SOFA. Say "was here" and WASH slips past without you noticing.

The question shows you the sentence and asks which pair of words hides a four-letter word. The answer choices are simply the pairs of side-by-side words from the sentence.

Children often find this type strangely hard at first, because we are trained to read words, not letters — the meaning of the sentence pulls attention away from the letters themselves. The good news: the skill flips quickly with practice, there are only a few gaps to check, and the question even tells you how long the hidden word is.

The method

1. Know the hiding place. The hidden word always sits across the crack between two words — the end of one word plus the start of the next. That is the only place to look.
2. Check every crack in turn. Work left to right, looking at the end of one word and the start of the next. The split can be 1+3 (g + ate), 2+2 (so + fa) or 3+1 (was + h) — don't check just one kind.
3. Say the sentence smoothly. Read it quietly in your head with no gaps between the words. Hidden words often jump out when you HEAR them, because your ear doesn't care where one word ends and the next begins.
4. Prove it before you answer. When a word pops out, spell it letter by letter across the two words. If the letters aren't all there, in order, keep hunting.

Worked examples

Example 1 (an easier one — the wording is slightly different, but the job is the same)

A hidden four-letter word runs from the end of one word into the start of the next. Which pair of words hides it? That pig ate two apples quickly.

A. That pig B. pig ate C. ate two D. two apples E. apples quickly

1. Check the cracks in turn. "That pig" gives t + p — nothing there.
2. "pig ate": the g at the end of pig joins ate. Spell it: g-a-t-e. GATE — a real word.
3. Prove it: "pi(G ATE)" — four letters, running across the crack. Done.

Answer: B. pig ate — the hidden word is GATE.

Example 2

Find the pair of words that contains a hidden four-letter word. We noticed superb old castle walls.

A. We noticed B. noticed superb C. superb old D. old castle E. castle walls

1. Say the sentence smoothly: "wenoticedsuperboldcastlewalls".
2. Did you hear it? "superb old" runs the b straight into old: b-o-l-d. BOLD.
3. Quick check of the rivals: "old castle" gives d + c, "castle walls" gives e + w — neither starts a word.

Answer: C. superb old — the hidden word is BOLD.

Example 3 (harder — a longer sentence means more cracks to check)

Find the pair of words that contains a hidden four-letter word. During autumn our extra cider apples fell everywhere.

A. During autumn B. autumn our C. our extra D. extra cider E. cider apples F. apples fell G. fell everywhere

1. Seven cracks this time — work steadily from the left.
2. "extra cider": the a at the end of extra joins c-i-d from cider: a-c-i-d. ACID.
3. Prove it: "extr(A CID)er" — four letters, across the crack.

Answer: D. extra cider — the hidden word is ACID.

The traps

• The single-word trap. A word hiding inside ONE word doesn't count — "chair" contains HAIR, but HAIR never crosses a crack. The hidden word must use the end of one word AND the start of the next.
• Stopping at the first word-ish sound. "Nearly a word" is not a word. Spell your find letter by letter before you commit — if two cracks both seem to work, one won't survive spelling.
• Checking only one kind of split. If you only ever try one letter + three letters, you will sail past a 2+2 split like "so fa". Slide the split along: 1+3, 2+2, 3+1.
• Reading for meaning. The story is a distraction — you are hunting letters, not news.

Try these yourself

1.

A hidden four-letter word runs from the end of one word into the start of the next. Which pair of words hides it? The wizard raised his wand slowly.

A. The wizard B. wizard raised C. raised his D. his wand E. wand slowly

2.

Find the pair of words that contains a hidden four-letter word. All the confetti melts quite quickly.

A. All the B. the confetti C. confetti melts D. melts quite E. quite quickly

3.

Find the pair of words that contains a hidden four-letter word. The school disco started quite late tonight.

A. The school B. school disco C. disco started D. started quite E. quite late F. late tonight

Answers

1. D — "his wand" hides SWAN: s (end of his) + wan (start of wand).
2. C — "confetti melts" hides TIME: ti (end of confetti) + me (start of melts).
3. C — "disco started" hides COST: co (end of disco) + st (start of started).

Related

• The complete 11+ question-type guide
• VR: Missing Three Letters — rebuild a word that has lost three letters
• VR: Letter Fit — find the one letter that finishes one word and starts the next

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.