Ties run deeper than you think: alphabetical order
The Short Answer
An alphabetical order question asks which word comes first, last, or in a given position once a set is sorted. The difficulty is never the alphabet — it is that the words are chosen so their first several letters match. Compare the first letter of every word, and where two are the same, climb to the next letter along until the tie breaks.
What is an alphabetical order question?
Your child is given a set of words and asked which comes first, which comes last, or which sits in a particular position once they are sorted.
Put like that it sounds like Year 2 work. It is not, and the reason is simple: the words are chosen so that their opening letters match. Sorting apple, dog, rabbit is trivial. Sorting Chariot, Charity, Charcoal, Charge, Chart is not, because the first four letters are identical in all five.
The Letter Ladder
The method is the only one your child needs, and we call it the Letter Ladder because it climbs.
Look at the first letter of every word.
If some of them are the same, climb to the next letter along — but only for the words that are still tied.
Keep climbing until the tie breaks. The first difference decides the order, whatever comes after it.
Can you show me a worked example?
Where do pupils lose marks?
Comparing too few letters and committing. This is the whole difficulty of the type, and it is a habit rather than a gap in knowledge.
Sorting by how the word looks — length, shape, familiarity — instead of by its letters.
And placing a shorter word after a longer one when the shorter runs out first. STATION before STATIONERY looks wrong to a child and is right.
Try it yourself
Put each set into alphabetical order, then answer the question. Climb one letter at a time — do not judge by the shape of the word.
- Which comes third: Present, Preserve, Precious, Pressure, Prevent?
- Which comes first: Chariot, Charity, Charcoal, Charge, Chart?
- Which comes last: Station, Stationary, Stationery, Statue, Status?
- Which comes second: Brought, Brown, Browse, Brother?
- Preserve. In order: Precious, Present, Preserve, Pressure, Prevent. All five share P-R-E, so the fourth letter does the first sorting — c, s, s, s, v — and then Present, Preserve and Pressure are separated at the fifth.
- Charcoal. In order: Charcoal, Charge, Chariot, Charity, Chart. All five share C-H-A-R, so everything is decided from the fifth letter onwards: c, g, i, i, t. Chariot and Charity then need a sixth letter — o before t.
- Status. In order: Station, Stationary, Stationery, Statue, Status. Station comes before Stationary because it runs out first, and Stationary before Stationery because a comes before e at the eighth letter.
- Brought. In order: Brother, Brought, Brown, Browse. All four share B-R-O, so the fourth letters decide: t, u, w, w. Brown and Browse are still tied there and separate at the fifth, where n comes before s.
How much practice does this type need at home?
Very little formal practice, and a great deal of casual practice. The underlying skill is knowing instantly which of two letters comes first, and that is best drilled out loud without paper: which comes first, m or p? h or f? v or t?
A child fluent at that finds these questions almost automatic. A child who is not will be slow at alphabetical order, letter sequences and codes alike — which is why we treat alphabet fluency as one skill serving three question types rather than three separate things to learn.
Free: a Verbal Reasoning workbook
Questions across the Verbal Reasoning question types, with the method printed at the top and full answers at the back. One workbook for the whole strand, not a sheet per question type.
Frequently Asked Questions
How deep can a tie go?
Deeper than most children expect. Chariot and Charity share five letters — C, H, A, R, I — and are only separated at the sixth. In the test you should expect the tie to run deep, because the words are chosen to make it do so. A child who compares three letters and commits is guessing with extra steps.
What happens when one word runs out?
The shorter word comes first. STATION and STATIONERY match all the way through STATION, and then STATION has nothing left to offer, so it takes the earlier place. Children often want the longer word to come first because it looks more important; it does not.
Does capital or lower case matter?
No. Alphabetical order ignores capitals, so a word starting with a capital P sorts exactly where a lower-case p would. The papers generally present words consistently anyway, so this rarely arises, but it is worth saying once so it never becomes a worry.
How can we make this quicker?
Fluency with the alphabet rather than any trick. A child who has to sing from A to work out whether m comes before p is spending their time in the wrong place. Ask them, out loud and often, which of two letters comes first — no words, just letters. That is the skill underneath, and it transfers directly to letter sequences and codes.
Sources
- GL Assessment — 11+ familiarisation materials and question type descriptions Published 2025.
- Clever Clogs Academy — our own Year 4 and Year 5 lesson records, Winslow Published September 2025 to July 2026.
We are not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to GL Assessment or Buckinghamshire Council. Test arrangements change; always check the council's own pages for the current year's dates.
We Teach This Method Every Week in Winslow
Groups of no more than six pupils with two qualified teachers, in person or online. Come and see a session before you decide.