11+ verbal reasoning: question types and the topics to practise

What verbal reasoning covers in GL-style papers

Verbal reasoning in a GL-style paper is a set of puzzles built from words and letters: codes, sequences, hidden words and word relationships. It leans on vocabulary and careful reading as much as on logic, and it is the paper most adults have never sat themselves - which is why every question in our bank carries an explanation of the method, not only the answer.

Each type has a method that can be shown in a couple of minutes and then needs practice to become quick. There are only a small number of types - thirteen in our bank - so being at home with the format is a realistic aim long before a test.

Which papers your area sets, and how they are weighted, is decided by each admissions authority rather than by us, and the familiarisation material your school or council points to is the authoritative description of the format. Which exam board your school uses explains the four families, and the which-test lookup is the quickest way to check your own area.

Typical verbal reasoning question types

These are the question types our own bank covers, grouped from the topic names the app uses. They describe what your child can practise here; they are not a syllabus published by an exam board.

The 13 live verbal reasoning topics

Every topic below is live in the app today. The list is generated from the same registry the app and the free quiz read, so it cannot drift from what is actually there. Each one opens our free quiz with that topic already selected: ten GL-style questions, an explanation after each answer, and no sign-up, card or email address.

• Analogies
• Compound words
• Hidden words
• Letter connections
• Letter–number codes
• Letter sequences
• Logic & deduction puzzles
• Missing & moving letters
• Mixed reasoning
• Number sequences
• Related words (synonym/antonym pairs)
• Word categories & odd one out
• Word codes

How BrightEleven practises this

Practice in verbal reasoning starts with a short placement quiz - around 25 mixed questions, untimed, framed as a quest, with no score ever shown to the child - which sets a starting point for the subject.

After that, a session is built from the topics above: about 60% of the questions at the current level, 20% one level easier to settle confidence, 10% one level harder as a stretch, and the rest re-tests of something already got wrong. Eight or more right out of the last ten at a level moves it up with a small celebration; four or fewer quietly eases it down, and the child simply sees friendlier questions rather than a message about it.

Every wrong answer joins the Fix-It queue: a recap in the same session, then the same skill again as a different question after 2, 7 and 21 days, blended unlabelled into normal sessions and never flagged as remedial. Every question, right or wrong, has an explanation.

On the parent side you see which verbal reasoning topics need attention, can print a worksheet of 12 questions with an answer key for any topic, and can see the direction of mock results once more than one mock has been sat. There is no standardised score and no single number across subjects, for a parent or a child. How BrightEleven works is the full tour, and the facts page is the same detail without the tour.

Where to go next

• The free 10-minute topic quiz - any of the 52 topics, no sign-up.
• Verbal reasoning and non-verbal reasoning, side by side
• What is the 11+? - the test, the timing and how results are reported.
• How much practice is enough - and when to start.
• 11+ maths - the same page for maths.
• 11+ English - the same page for English.
• 11+ non-verbal reasoning - the same page for non-verbal reasoning.