What does a child have to do to classify a word relationship in the 11+?

Classify one pair or group by its semantic relationship. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the vocabulary strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.

What is the trap in an 11+ classify a word relationship question?

Two words about the same topic are not automatically related: the link has to be one of the headings. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.

What is not part of classify a word relationship in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: Excludes analogy transfer to a new pair. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside classify a word relationship?

The skill map connects it to identify an analogy relation. Semantic classification can transfer into provider-style analogy analysis. That skill has its own page here.

How can my child practise classify a word relationship for free?

Use The Word Family and Synonym Spectrum, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to classify a word relationship, they run in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. Each also has its own link, so you can send one to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

English · Vocabulary

Classify a word relationship

Classify one pair or group by its semantic relationship.

Practise it now

Four of these words belong to the same family. Send them into the circle, then put the odd one on the pedestal.

This exercise practises classify a word relationship alongside its own main skill, Odd One Out.

Loading the interactive exercise. Nothing you do here is saved or scored.

A worked example

One question of the kind this skill is tested with, worked all the way through: the reasoning, and what the wrong answers are there to catch.

The link inside a pair

Describe the link between the two words in each pair before reading the headings.

Words to sort: sparrow - bird, spaniel - dog, page - book, lid - jar, wheel - bicycle, oak - tree.
Groups to sort them into: Pairs that are PART to WHOLE; Pairs that are a KIND of.

Answer: Pairs that are PART to WHOLE: page - book, lid - jar, wheel - bicycle. Pairs that are a KIND of: sparrow - bird, spaniel - dog, oak - tree.

How you get there

What is being sorted is the link inside each pair, not either word on its own: "wheel - bicycle" belongs under "Pairs that are PART to WHOLE" and "spaniel - dog" under "Pairs that are a KIND of", which means every item here has exactly one correct group.

Why the other answers tempt

Two words about the same topic are not automatically related: the link has to be one of the headings.

If they are stuck, say this

Test each pair against the headings: "X means the same as Y", "X means the opposite of Y", "X is part of Y" or "X is a kind of Y". Use the sentence that is precisely true.

Now do it live in The Word Family

Kitchen-table script for parents

Try this together

A friendly mini script for the breakfast table, school run or a quiet two minutes. Read it aloud as written, or make it your own.

Ready? Let's try Classify a word relationship together. Words to sort: sparrow - bird, spaniel - dog, page - book, lid - jar, wheel - bicycle, oak - tree. Here comes the question: Describe the link between the two words in each pair before reading the headings. A handy clue is: Test each pair against the headings: "X means the same as Y", "X means the opposite of Y", "X is part of Y" or "X is a kind of Y". Nice work. Here is the thinking: What is being sorted is the link inside each pair, not either word on its own: "wheel - bicycle" belongs under "Pairs that are PART to WHOLE" and "spaniel - dog" under "Pairs that are a KIND of", which means every item here has exactly one correct group. So our answer is: Pairs that are PART to WHOLE: page - book, lid - jar, wheel - bicycle. One sneaky trap is: Two words about the same topic are not automatically related: the link has to be one of the headings. Can you show me the first move in your own words? No rush; one calm step is enough.

How each of these 2 exercises teaches it

The Word Family

Four of these words belong to the same family. Send them into the circle, then put the odd one on the pedestal.

This engine’s own main skill is Odd One Out. It practises classify a word relationship alongside it.

Verbal odd-one-out questions hide a category, and the wrong answers are chosen because they look related to it. The mistake is asking yourself which word feels different, because feelings are easy to argue with. Ask instead what the others have in common and force yourself to say it as a full sentence, then test that sentence on all five words. Here the sentence is "you can live in it": a bungalow, a cottage, a castle and a flat all pass, and a chimney fails, because a chimney is attached to a home rather than being one. A sentence that is true for exactly four words and false for one is the rule. If your sentence is true for all five, or for only three, it is the wrong sentence and you need another one.

What to say if they get stuck

Tap a word to send it towards the circle. If it belongs, it settles into a seat by itself.
One word keeps getting pushed back out. Say what the other four have in common as a full sentence.
Four of them are whole places. The fifth is only a part of a place.

Open The Word Family on its own page to share it

Synonym Spectrum

These all mean "walked". Drag them onto the rail, calmest on the left.

This engine’s own main skill is Shades of Meaning. It practises classify a word relationship alongside it.

Synonyms are not spare copies of each other - each one carries a different temperature. A writer who chooses "stormed" instead of "walked" has told you about the character's mood without ever naming it, and an examiner will credit you for spotting that. When a question asks why the author chose a particular word, the answer is almost always: because of where it sits on a spectrum like this one.

What to say if they get stuck

Start with the two extremes - which word could you never use about someone in a temper?
Picture the feet. Dawdling feet drag; stomping feet land hard.
Compare them in pairs: is "marched" calmer or angrier than "stomped"?

Open Synonym Spectrum on its own page to share it

Where classify a word relationship sits in the 11+

The 11+ does not test these skills in isolation, and practising one in the wrong order wastes the practice. These are the skills the curriculum map connects this one to.

The same thinking carries into: Identify an analogy relation
Semantic classification can transfer into provider-style analogy analysis.

How classify a word relationship differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises several skills, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: classify one pair or group by its semantic relationship, and it stops where excludes analogy transfer to a new pair.

Interpret a word in context
Infer the meaning of one word from its sentence and passage context. Excludes recalling a definition without context.
Select a synonym
Select a word with the closest meaning in the stated context. Meaning must be context-compatible.
Group words by relation
Group words or pairs that share one semantic relation. Excludes visual classification.
Select closest meaning
Choose the option closest in meaning to a target word. Context is absent unless explicitly supplied.

Related english skills

Resolve a homophoneChoose the correctly spelled homophone for a sentence.
Select an antonymSelect a word with the opposite meaning in the stated context.

All english 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about classify a word relationship

Answered from what the skill map records about this skill, not from a template. Every answer here is on the page, and the same questions are the page's FAQ structured data.

: Classify one pair or group by its semantic relationship. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the vocabulary strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.
: Two words about the same topic are not automatically related: the link has to be one of the headings. The wrong answers on this skill are built out of that, not out of random numbers, so it is worth naming out loud before your child meets it under time pressure.
: Point at the next move rather than explaining the whole rule. Test each pair against the headings: "X means the same as Y", "X means the opposite of Y", "X is part of Y" or "X is a kind of Y". Use the sentence that is precisely true.
: The skill map draws the line here: Excludes analogy transfer to a new pair. A question past that line is testing a different named English skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The skill map connects it to identify an analogy relation. Semantic classification can transfer into provider-style analogy analysis. That skill has its own page here.
: Use The Word Family and Synonym Spectrum, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to classify a word relationship, they run in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. Each also has its own link, so you can send one to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Classify a word relationship pays off twice

It carries into identify an analogy relation on the verbal reasoning paper too. A free diagnostic covers both papers in one sitting.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic