brainblox Play Brainblox →
11+ question-type guides ›

How to Answer 11+ Word Relationship Questions

Word relationship questions are analogies with a twist. Instead of completing "A is to B as C is to ?", you are given two brackets of words and must choose one word from EACH bracket so that the two finished pairs go together in the same way: "Wood is to (tree branch chair) as wool is to (soft knit jumper)".

Because you build both ends of the puzzle, there are more combinations to think about — three words in each bracket makes nine possible pairs — and the wrong combinations can look very sensible. Wood really does come from a tree; wool really is soft. The question counts on you grabbing the first connection you see and stopping there.

The skill being tested is precision: not "which words go together?" but "which two words are connected in exactly the same way?". One clean rule must run through both pairs, like the same key opening two locks. (Here the rule is "thing made from it": wood becomes a chair, wool becomes a jumper.)

The method

  1. Read the two fixed words — the ones sitting just before each bracket. They anchor the puzzle.
  2. Work out how the first pair could be connected. Try each word in the first bracket next to the first fixed word, and turn the most promising connection into a sentence: "a goose belongs to a gaggle."
  3. Carry the sentence across to the second fixed word. Test it against each word in the second bracket: "a bee belongs to a...?"
  4. Demand that ONE rule fits both pairs exactly. If your sentence needs bending to fit the second side — "well, sort of..." — it is the wrong rule. Go back and try a different first-bracket word.
  5. Say the finished analogy in full. "Goose is to gaggle as bee is to swarm." If both halves sound like the same sentence with the words swapped, you have got it.

Worked examples

Example 1

Cat is to kitten as horse is to ( A. foal B. hoof C. pony D. saddle )

Choose the word that makes the second pair match the first in the same way.

  1. The rule: a kitten is a baby cat.
  2. Carry it across: a baby horse is a...?
  3. Careful — a pony is a SMALL horse, not a baby horse. Hooves and saddles fail the rule instantly.
  4. The answer is A. foal.

Example 2

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way.

Goose is to ( A. herd B. litter C. gaggle ) as bee is to ( D. shoal E. swarm F. pack )

  1. All six bracket words name groups of animals, so the rule must be: the group word for THIS animal.
  2. First bracket: a group of geese is not a herd (that is cows) or a litter (that is puppies) — it is a gaggle.
  3. Second bracket: a group of bees is not a shoal (fish) or a pack (wolves) — it is a swarm.
  4. The answer is C + E: gaggle and swarm.

Example 3

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way.

Trickle is to ( A. torrent B. drip C. tap ) as smoulder is to ( D. blaze E. smoke F. warmth )

  1. A trickle is a tiny flow of water; to smoulder is to burn faintly and slowly. Both fixed words are WEAK versions of something.
  2. So the rule is weak-to-fierce. A trickle turned fierce is a torrent — a drip is just as weak as a trickle, and a tap is merely where water comes from.
  3. Smoulder turned fierce is a blaze. Smoke and warmth are side effects of burning, not its fierce version.
  4. The answer is A + D: torrent and blaze.

The traps

"Goes with" is not "goes the same way". A pony goes with a horse and a saddle goes on one — but neither is a baby horse. Every bracket is packed with words that are ABOUT the fixed word without copying the first pair's rule.

Right idea, wrong owner. In the goose-and-bee question, shoal and pack are genuine group words — for fish and for wolves. Knowing the rule is not enough; the word you pick must belong to the animal in the question.

The one-sided rule. A rule that fits one pair beautifully may fall apart on the other. "The Earth is to sea" looks fine on its own — but nothing in the sun's bracket pairs with the sun that way. The rule that survives both sides is "what it is": the Earth is a planet, and the sun is a star.

Direction drift. If the rule runs weak-to-fierce, keep it that way round on both sides. Pick the fierce word, not another weak one — drip fails exactly because it copies trickle instead of transforming it.

Try these yourself

1.

Second is to minute as month is to ( A. week B. year C. day D. hour )

Choose the word that makes the second pair match the first in the same way.

2.

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way.

Write is to ( A. wrote B. writer C. writes ) as ride is to ( D. ridden E. riding F. rode )

3.

Choose one word from each bracket so that the two pairs go together in the same way.

Optician is to ( A. eyes B. ears C. chart ) as chiropodist is to ( D. feet E. knees F. boots )

Answers

Related

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.