Narrow, then test: move a letter questions
The Short Answer
A move a letter question asks your child to take one letter out of the first word, leaving a real word behind, and add it anywhere in the second word to make another real word. The letter is not changed and the remaining letters keep their order. The first word usually offers two or three possible letters, so the second word is what decides which one is right.
What is a move a letter question?
Your child is given two words. They take one letter out of the first — leaving a real word behind — and put it into the second, making another real word.
The letter itself does not change. The letters left behind keep their order. Nothing else moves.
Both halves have to be true at the same time, and that is the part children forget: it is easy to find a letter that improves the second word and quietly ruins the first.
Why the first word rarely decides it
Look at PLAIN.
Cover the P and you have LAIN, a real word. Cover the L and you have PAIN, real. Cover the I and you have PLAN, real again.
Three candidate letters: P, L and I. The first word has taken you from twenty-six possibilities to three, and that is everything it can do.
So the shape of the question is not find the letter in the first word. It is narrow, then test — collect every candidate the first word allows, then let the second word decide. Never narrow and guess.
How do you teach the method?
Cover it. Go through the first word letter by letter, covering each in turn, and note every one that leaves a real word behind.
Check it. Take each candidate to the second word one at a time.
Slot it in. For each candidate, try every position in the second word — front, middle, end. A four-letter word has five places a letter can go.
Can you show me a worked example?
Where do pupils lose marks?
Three places, and all three are the same mistake wearing different clothes: doing half the work.
Testing one candidate rather than all of them. Trying only the front and back of the second word. And forgetting to check that the first word still reads as a word once its letter has gone.
Try it yourself
Take one letter from the first word so that it is still a word, and put it anywhere in the second word to make a new word. Write out your attempts.
- BONE and LAME
- DARE and MEAL
- PLAIN and CAP
- STONE and PLACE
- B — take it from BONE to leave ONE, and add it to the front of LAME to make BLAME.
- D — DARE leaves ARE, and D goes into the middle of MEAL to make MEDAL. The middle is where children forget to look.
- L — PLAIN leaves PAIN, and L goes into CAP to make CLAP. Note that covering P gives LAIN and covering I gives PLAN, so the first word offers three candidates and settles nothing on its own.
- S — STONE leaves TONE, and S goes on the end of PLACE to make PLACES. This is the easy shape of the question, and it is worth doing anyway: check that TONE really is a word before committing, because the half children skip is the first word, not the second.
How much practice does this type need at home?
Two short sessions a week for a fortnight. The method is quick to learn and the gains come from doing it the same way every time, so frequency matters more than length.
If your child is stuck, the useful drill is the first half on its own: give them a five-letter word and ask which letters can be removed to leave a real word. No second word, no answer to find — just the habit of collecting every candidate instead of stopping at the first.
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
Why does my child find the first word so unhelpful?
Because it usually is. Take PLAIN: cover the P and you have LAIN, cover the L and you have PAIN, cover the I and you have PLAN. Three real words, three candidate letters, and no way to choose between them yet. The first word has narrowed twenty-six letters down to three and that is all it can do. The second word does the deciding, which is why the rule we teach is narrow, then test — never narrow and guess.
Can the letter go in the middle of the second word?
Yes, and this is the single most common thing children miss. DARE and MEAL looks impossible if you only try D at the front and the back of MEAL. Put it in the middle and you get MEDAL. Every position has to be tried, which for a four-letter word means five places.
Does the leftover part of the first word have to be a real word?
Yes, and it is half the question. A child who finds a letter that makes the second word work, without checking the first word still reads as a word, has answered half the question. Both halves have to be true at once.
How long should this take in the test?
Writing out every candidate and every position takes about fifteen seconds. Skipping it costs the mark. We would rather a child spent the fifteen seconds — this is not a type where speed comes from doing less, but from doing the same thing every time without hesitating.
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.