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Word and alphabet skills: the 11 Plus question types

Jumbled words, alphabetical order, letter positions, words from a word and word squares.

About 35 seconds a question in the testTry five with worked answers

Every question here is written by Prism in the style of the tests. None is copied from a real paper, and a fresh one is drawn each time a child practises.

From foundation to exam standard

Two questions at each level. Tap an option to check it.

Foundation where a child in Year 3 or 4 starts

Question 1Aim for about 35 seconds

Put these words in alphabetical order. Which word comes last?

FUGUE SHARK CHALK BUDGIE TRAY

Show the worked answer

Answer: A, TRAY

How to work it out

  1. In order: BUDGIE, CHALK, FUGUE, SHARK, TRAY.
  2. The last is TRAY.

Why the other options are wrong

  • B (BUDGIE): BUDGIE comes first in alphabetical order, not last.
  • C (FUGUE): FUGUE comes third in alphabetical order, not last.
  • D (CHALK): CHALK comes second in alphabetical order, not last.
  • E (SHARK): SHARK comes fourth in alphabetical order, not last.
Question 2Aim for about 35 seconds

Put these words in alphabetical order. Which word comes second?

SPONGE PEAR MONDAY CHARCOAL TEASPOON

Show the worked answer

Answer: B, MONDAY

How to work it out

  1. In order: CHARCOAL, MONDAY, PEAR, SPONGE, TEASPOON.
  2. The second is MONDAY.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A (PEAR): PEAR comes third in alphabetical order, not second.
  • C (TEASPOON): TEASPOON comes last in alphabetical order, not second.
  • D (SPONGE): SPONGE comes fourth in alphabetical order, not second.
  • E (CHARCOAL): CHARCOAL comes first in alphabetical order, not second.

Standard the 11 Plus standard, Year 5

Question 3Aim for about 35 seconds

A dictionary page starts with CARD and ends with CHARCOAL. Which word would be on that page?

Show the worked answer

Answer: E, CHALK

How to work it out

  1. In alphabetical order: CANVAS, CARD, CHALK, CHARCOAL, CLAY, COLLAGE, CRAFT, CRAYON, CUTTER.
  2. Only CHALK comes after CARD and before CHARCOAL.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A (CLAY): CLAY comes after CHARCOAL, so it is on a later page.
  • B (CRAFT): CRAFT comes after CHARCOAL, so it is on a later page.
  • C (COLLAGE): COLLAGE comes after CHARCOAL, so it is on a later page.
  • D (CANVAS): CANVAS comes before CARD, so it is on an earlier page.
Question 4Aim for about 35 seconds

Put these six words into a 3 by 3 grid so that every row and every column is a word. TOW goes in the top row. Which word goes in the bottom row?

ARE ORE GET TOW TAG WET

Show the worked answer

Answer: E, GET

How to work it out

  1. The rows are TOW, ARE, GET and the columns are TAG, ORE, WET.
  2. GET goes in the bottom row.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A (ARE): ARE is the middle row.
  • B (WET): WET goes down the right column.
  • C (ORE): ORE goes down the middle column.
  • D (TAG): TAG goes down the left column.

Exam standard what the papers ask in Year 6

Question 5Aim for about 35 seconds

Which word can NOT be made from the letters of GRANDMOTHER? Each letter may be used only once.

Show the worked answer

Answer: C, THUNDER

How to work it out

  1. THUNDER needs U, and there is no U in GRANDMOTHER.
  2. Every other word uses only letters that are there, no more often than they appear.

Why the other options are wrong

  • A (ANTHEM): ANTHEM can be made: every letter it needs is in GRANDMOTHER.
  • B (MOTHER): MOTHER can be made: every letter it needs is in GRANDMOTHER.
  • D (MANGO): MANGO can be made: every letter it needs is in GRANDMOTHER.
  • E (TRADER): TRADER can be made: every letter it needs is in GRANDMOTHER.
Question 6Aim for about 35 seconds

The word in capitals has its letters jumbled. Which word should it be?

She borrowed three books from the BRYLRIA.

Show the worked answer

Answer: C, LIBRARY

How to work it out

BRYLRIA uses exactly the letters of LIBRARY, and LIBRARY makes sense: “She borrowed three books from the library.”

Why the other options are wrong

  • A (HOLIDAY): HOLIDAY needs the letter H, and there is no H in BRYLRIA.
  • B (GIRAFFE): GIRAFFE needs the letter G, and there is no G in BRYLRIA.
  • D (BALCONY): BALCONY needs the letter C, and there is no C in BRYLRIA.
  • E (BLANKET): BLANKET needs the letter N, and there is no N in BRYLRIA.

More verbal reasoning

All verbal reasoning question types · Every subject

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