Number it, track it, test it: complete a word pair
The Short Answer
This question gives three pairs of words. The same rule turns the first word of each pair into the second, and the third pair is left incomplete. The rule is always about positions — which numbered letters get used, and in what order — so number the letters of the first word, track each letter of the second back to its position, write that list down, and test it on the other complete pair.
What is a complete a word pair question?
Your child is given three pairs of words. The same rule turns the first word of each pair into the second, and the third pair has its second word missing.
Two pairs show you. The third tests you.
The rule is always about positions — which numbered letters get used, and in what order. CABBAGES gives SAGE. WANDERED gives DARE. Those two answers have no letters in common whatever. What they share is that both take positions 8, 2, 6 and 7.
So the letters change every time. The positions never do.
How do you teach the method?
We teach it as number it, track it, test it.
Number it. Write a number under every letter of the first word — all the way to eight if the word is that long.
Track it. Take each letter of the second word and find which number it came from. Write that list of numbers down. A rule you cannot write is a guess.
Test it. Apply those same numbers to the other complete pair before using them on the third.
Start with the letters that appear once
Repeated letters make positions uncertain, so do not begin at the beginning — begin where the answer is free.
In CABBAGES, the S appears once, so it must be position 8. The G appears once: position 6. The E appears once: position 7. Three numbers pinned down without any reasoning at all.
That leaves the A, which could be position 2 or position 5 — and rather than guess, you carry both forward and let the second complete pair decide between them. Testing on WANDERED settles it at 2.
Which pair should you work from?
Not necessarily the first one.
Look at EXTENT → TEN and PLACES → APE. EXTENT has two Es and two Ts, so when TEN uses a T you cannot tell whether it came from position 3 or position 6. PLACES has no repeated letters at all, so every position is certain.
Starting with EXTENT wastes a minute and produces an uncertain rule. Starting with PLACES gives the rule immediately, and EXTENT then becomes the test.
Scan both complete pairs and start with whichever has no repeated letters.
Can you show me a worked example?
The three shapes a rule can take
| Shape | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Take a run | Consecutive positions | FOREST → REST (3, 4, 5, 6) |
| Skip and reorder | Positions jump about | INFORM → FIR (3, 1, 5) |
| Change one letter | Same length, one letter swapped | BILE → BITE |
Checking the lengths first tells you which family you are in. If the second word is shorter, letters are being taken. If it is the same length, a letter has been changed.
Where do pupils lose marks?
Guessing the rule from one pair and never testing it on the other.
Starting from the word with repeated letters and producing an ambiguous rule.
Holding the numbers in their head. Four positions is more than anyone recalls reliably while also reading a third word.
Try it yourself
Work out the positions from the clearer of the two complete pairs, test them on the other, then apply them to the third.
- PLACES → APE, EXTENT → TEN, INFORM → ( ? )
- ANSWER → SWAN, ALCOVE → COAL, ANTHEM → ( ? )
- CABBAGES → SAGE, WANDERED → DARE, FOCUSSED → ( ? )
- FOREST → REST. What kind of rule is this, and how can you tell at a glance?
- FIR. Number PLACES: P1 L2 A3 C4 E5 S6. APE uses positions 3, 1, 5. Test on EXTENT — E1 X2 T3 E4 N5 T6 gives T, E, N — TEN, so the rule holds. INFORM is I1 N2 F3 O4 R5 M6, so positions 3, 1, 5 give F, I, R.
- THAN. ANSWER is A1 N2 S3 W4 E5 R6 and SWAN uses positions 3, 4, 1, 2. Test on ALCOVE: positions 3, 4, 1, 2 give C, O, A, L — COAL, correct. ANTHEM gives T, H, A, N.
- DOSE. CABBAGES is C1 A2 B3 B4 A5 G6 E7 S8. Start with the letters that appear once: S must be 8, G must be 6, E must be 7. The A could be 2 or 5, and testing on WANDERED settles it at 2 — positions 8, 2, 6, 7 give D, A, R, E. FOCUSSED then gives D, O, S, E.
- It is a run of consecutive positions — REST is positions 3, 4, 5, 6 of FOREST. You can tell at a glance because the second word appears inside the first, unbroken and in order. Runs are the easiest of the three rule shapes to spot and the quickest to confirm.
How much practice does this type need at home?
Three short sessions a week for a fortnight, and the most useful drill is making them rather than solving them. Give your child a word, ask them to pick four positions, and have them build the answer — then give them a second word and ask for the same positions applied.
Doing it forwards makes doing it backwards much faster, because the rule stops being something to discover and becomes something they recognise the shape of.
Free: a Verbal Reasoning workbook
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why is the rule about positions and not about letters?
Because the letters are different in every pair, and only the positions stay the same. CABBAGES gives SAGE and WANDERED gives DARE — the two answers share no letters at all. What they share is that both take positions 8, 2, 6 and 7. Once a child sees that, the question stops being about words and becomes about numbers, which is a great deal easier.
Why not start with the first pair?
Because it may not be the clearer one. In EXTENT there are two Es and two Ts, so you cannot tell which position each letter of TEN came from — and working from it wastes a minute before producing an uncertain rule. PLACES has no repeated letters at all, so every position is certain. Choosing which pair to work from is a real skill and it is worth teaching explicitly.
What do I do when a word does have repeated letters?
Pin down the letters that appear only once first — those positions are certain and they are free. In CABBAGES the S can only be position 8, the G only 6, the E only 7. That leaves the A, which could be 2 or 5, and you carry both forward and let the second complete pair decide. That is exactly what the second pair is for.
Are there different kinds of rule?
Three, and checking the lengths tells you which you are looking at. A run takes consecutive positions — FOREST gives REST. A skip-and-reorder jumps about — INFORM gives FIR from positions 3, 1, 5. And where the two words are the same length, a letter has been changed rather than taken, as BILE gives BITE. Same length means a change; shorter means letters were taken.
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.
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