Hidden word questions ask you to find a word spanning the gap between two words in a sentence. The method is mechanical: put your finger on each word boundary in turn and read across it.
Once a child does that systematically instead of staring at the whole sentence, these become some of the most reliable marks in the paper.
It helps to split verbal reasoning the way you would split mathematics, into applied topics and language topics. The applied ones have a rule. Teach the rule, practise it, and a child improves quickly. The language ones, anagrams and antonyms and the rest, rest on reading and cannot be taught around.
This is an applied type, which is good news: it is one of the fastest places to pick up marks.
The boundary method
- Ignore the meaning of the sentence. It is irrelevant and it distracts.
- Go to the first gap between two words.
- Read the last few letters of the first word together with the first few letters of the second.
- Move to the next gap. Work along in order so you never miss one.
- Stop at the first real word of the required length.
Most questions specify a four letter word. The hidden word always straddles the gap, so it is never wholly inside one word.
Three worked examples
"Please open earlier today."
Work the boundaries in order. Please+open gives nothing. Then open+earlier: the last letter of open is N, and earlier begins EAR. N plus EAR gives NEAR.
"Rob and Jim waited outside."
First boundary: Rob+and. The last letter of Rob is B, and and is A N D. B plus AND gives BAND.
"She wrote a magic article about trains."
Boundary magic+article. The last letter of magic is C, and article begins ART. C plus ART gives CART.
In every case the split was one letter from the first word and three from the second, but it will not always be. Check all the splits at a boundary: one and three, two and two, three and one.
Check all three splits
| Split | Example from "open earlier" | Word? |
|---|---|---|
| 1 + 3 | N + EAR | NEAR |
| 2 + 2 | EN + EA | No |
| 3 + 1 | PEN + E | No |
Children who only ever check one split miss roughly two thirds of the available answers. Make all three automatic.
Where the marks go
- Reading for meaning. The sentence is scaffolding, nothing more.
- Skipping boundaries. Work along in order, every gap, no exceptions.
- Only checking one split. Three splits at every boundary.
- Looking inside a single word. The answer always crosses a gap.
- Stopping at the first plausible letter group without checking it is actually a word.
See our guide to codes and our guide to verbal reasoning, and work through the partnership's familiarisation questions for the exact answer format.
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Mechanical beats clever on this one
Hidden words sit in the applied family, with codes and letter sequences. There is a rule, it can be taught in one sitting, and a child who has it improves straight away. That makes it one of the best returns on your preparation time in the whole paper.
The mistake is treating it as a reading question. Children scan the sentence, try to be clever, and miss the answer sitting in plain sight at the third gap. Tell them to forget what the sentence says. Finger on the first gap, read across, move to the next gap, in order, every time.
The other thing I drill is checking all three splits at each boundary. One and three, two and two, three and one. A child who only ever looks at one of those is leaving most of the answers on the table without ever knowing it.
Mushtaque Ahmed, Founder of GrammarPath and Bright Mentors
Frequently asked questions
What are hidden word questions in the 11+?
You are given a sentence and must find a word, usually four letters, hidden across the gap between two consecutive words. The hidden word always straddles the boundary, so it is never contained entirely within a single word.
How do you find hidden words in a sentence?
Ignore the meaning of the sentence and work along the word boundaries in order. At each gap, read the last letters of one word together with the first letters of the next. In "the shop will open earlier", the boundary between open and earlier gives N plus EAR, which is NEAR.
How many ways should you split at each boundary?
Three, for a four letter word: one letter plus three, two plus two, and three plus one. Children who only check a single split miss roughly two thirds of the available answers, so making all three automatic is the main thing to practise.
Does the sentence meaning matter in hidden word questions?
No, and reading for meaning actively slows children down. The sentence is only scaffolding to hold the letters in place, so the right approach is mechanical: finger on each gap, read across it, move on.
Are hidden word questions easy to improve at?
Yes, they are one of the most reliable sources of marks in verbal reasoning. This is an applied question type with a mechanical method, so a child taught to work the boundaries systematically improves very quickly.