Verbal Reasoning: Hidden and Compound Words Set 5
Verbal Reasoning: Hidden and Compound Words Set 5 is the final and hardest practice round in this collection on the three joining-word formats used on 11+ verbal reasoning papers: a hidden word spanning an uneven split across neighbouring words in a sentence, a missing three-letter word linking two longer words, and a missing word that must complete a chain of three compound words at once.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Identify which of the three formats the question uses: a hidden word inside a sentence, a bracketed three-letter link between two words, or a single missing word that must join with more than one other word to form genuine compounds.
- For a hidden word in a sentence, check every join between neighbouring words in turn, trying every possible uneven split of letters across that join rather than only the halfway point.
- For a bracketed link, or a word joining a chain of three, test each option against every required position in turn, since an option only counts once it makes a genuine word in ALL of the required positions, not just one or two of them.
- Read each candidate word aloud in your head, since a string of letters can look plausible on the page while not actually being a genuine English word.
- Where more than one option makes a real word in most of the required positions, look carefully for the single position where it fails, since that is exactly how the wrong options are built at this level.
- Confirm your final choice makes a genuine word in every required position before selecting it, then check it against the given options.
Worked example
Find the one word that can follow all three of these words to make a real compound word each time: SUN___, MOON___, STAR___. A) Light B) Shine C) Beam D) Rise E) Set
- Test each option after SUN first: light, shine, beam, rise and set all make genuine words (sunlight, sunshine, sunbeam, sunrise, sunset), so this check alone cannot decide the answer.
- Test each option after MOON next: moonlight, moonshine, moonbeam and moonrise are all genuine words, and moonset is a genuine astronomy term too, so every option is still in play.
- Test each option after STAR last: starlight is the only genuine word; starshine, starbeam, starrise and starset are not real English words.
- Since LIGHT is the only option that makes a genuine word after all three of SUN, MOON and STAR, it is the answer. Final answer: A) Light.
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Q1A five-letter word is hidden between two words that are next to each other in this sentence. Which word is hidden? 'The floor bitterly creaked under our feet.' A) Orbit B) Oorbi C) Floob D) Itcre E) LoorbShow answer
Answer: A) Orbit - the last two letters of FLOOR (OR) join with the first three letters of BITTERLY (BIT) to spell ORBIT.
Q2A four-letter word is hidden between two words that are next to each other in this sentence. Which word is hidden? 'The old piano vents were dusty.' A) Oven B) Iano C) Nove D) Anov E) VentShow answer
Answer: A) Oven - the last letter of PIANO (O) joins with the first three letters of VENTS (VEN) to spell OVEN.
Q3CAR ( ??? ) SIL. Find the three-letter word which completes the word on the left and starts the word on the right. A) Ton B) Pet C) Bin D) Boy E) PitShow answer
Answer: A) Ton - CAR+TON=CARTON, and TON+SIL=TONSIL; PET makes CARPET but not a word before SIL, and BOY makes CARBOY but not a word before SIL.
Q4GAR ( ??? ) TIST. Find the three-letter word which completes the word on the left and starts the word on the right. A) Den B) Age C) Net D) Min E) TonShow answer
Answer: A) Den - GAR+DEN=GARDEN, and DEN+TIST=DENTIST; AGE makes GARAGE but not a word before TIST, and NET makes GARNET but not a word before TIST.
Q5Find the one word that can follow all three of these words to make a real compound word each time: HEAD___, TOOTH___, STOMACH___. A) Ache B) Band C) Line D) Phone E) StoneShow answer
Answer: A) Ache - headache, toothache and stomachache are all real words; the other options only work after HEAD.
Q6Find the one word that can come before all three of these words to make a real compound word each time: ___BOARD, ___STORM, ___FALL. A) Snow B) Over C) Water D) Surf E) ChessShow answer
Answer: A) Snow - snowboard, snowstorm and snowfall are all real words; water almost works, since waterboard and waterfall are real, but waterstorm is not a real word.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
A five-letter word is hidden between two words that are next to each other in this sentence. Which word is hidden, and which two words does it span? 'The toad mitigated its escape quickly.'
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BOR ( ??? ) BOAT. Choose the missing word from: A) Row B) Der C) Ough D) Ing E) Dom
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Find the one word that can come before all three of these words to make a real compound word each time: ___LIGHT, ___SHINE, ___BURN. A) Sun B) Day C) Moon D) Star E) Spot
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Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the verbal reasoning: hidden and compound words set 5 worksheet pack - 12 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. One email opens every download in this browser for 14 days - no account, no card. Print it for personal and classroom use.
This topic is chapter 24 of 11+ Verbal Reasoning Workbook 2, the whole course as one free printable PDF.
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