Verbal Reasoning
Word puzzles that test how you think, not how much you’ve memorised. Once you know the types, they stop being tricky and start being fun.
Verbal reasoning is really just a grand name for word puzzles. It leans less on what you’ve been taught in class and more on how you work things out: spotting patterns, breaking words apart, and thinking one step ahead.
The exam doesn’t tell you in advance which puzzle types will come up, so it’s worth meeting all of them at least once. The good news is that getting familiar with them makes a real difference, which is exactly what these pages are for. Pick a topic below and start whenever you like.
Worth knowing: a wide vocabulary is the single biggest thing that lifts verbal reasoning scores. It feeds nearly every puzzle here, and it’s built slowly through reading rather than crammed the week before. So count reading widely as part of the practice.
Word meaning
Synonyms, opposites, the odd words out, and words that mean two things at once. It leans on vocabulary you already half-know, so it’s the gentlest way in, and it’s the skill that matters most.
Start here →The other topics
Each one stands on its own, so there’s no set order. Explore whatever looks interesting.
Making & changing words
Building, breaking and reshaping words: slotting in a missing letter, finding a word hidden across two others, moving a letter to make two new ones, and joining words together.
Explore →Letter & number codes
Where letters and words secretly stand for something else. Crack the code using positions in the alphabet, then read words written as numbers.
Explore →Sequences
Spotting the pattern and carrying it on, whether it’s a run of letters marching through the alphabet or a string of numbers.
Explore →Number & logic puzzles
Letters that stand for numbers in a sum, missing numbers to find, and short logic problems you reason out from a handful of clues.
Explore →How each topic works
Explanation
3A plain, jargon-free description of the puzzle and the trick to it.
Worked example
One question taken slowly, step by step, so you can see the thinking.
Your go
A set to try yourself, with instant feedback that explains each answer.
Nothing here is timed, scored or saved. Get it wrong as many times as you like, that’s how it’s meant to work.
Every question type, covered
GL Assessment, the board most areas use, publishes 21 verbal reasoning question types, and it doesn’t say in advance which will appear on the day. Here is every one, and which topic above it lives in. Not every paper uses every type, so treat this as the full map rather than a to-do list.
Tom Sanderson Tutoring 