What does a child have to do to identify a sound device in the 11+?

Identify alliteration or sound imitation in a short phrase. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the language strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What is the trap in an 11+ identify a sound device question?

Every option names a real sound pattern, so none of them looks wrong on its own. Only one of them is actually happening in this phrase. 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 identify a sound device in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: Excludes figurative comparison. 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 identify a sound device?

The language strand holds 3 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to identify a sound device are expand a common abbreviation and identify figurative language. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.

How can my child practise identify a sound device for free?

Use Sound Spotter, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to identify a sound device, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

English · Language

Identify a sound device

Identify alliteration or sound imitation in a short phrase.

Practise it now

This line uses ALLITERATION. Tap every word that starts with the repeated sound, and only those words.

It covers most of this skill rather than all of it.

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.

Worked example: Which sound pattern is it?

Worked example: Which sound pattern is used in this phrase? "The diagram labelled the mutton and the button."

repetition
alliteration
rhyme
onomatopoeia

Answer: rhyme

How you get there

"mutton" and "button" end with the same sound, and two different words ending alike is rhyme. There is no repeated opening-sound pattern, no word copies a noise, and no word is used twice.

Why the other answers tempt

Every option names a real sound pattern, so none of them looks wrong on its own. Only one of them is actually happening in this phrase.

If they are stuck, say this

Four things to test for: do several words in a row begin with the same sound, do two words end with the same sound, does one word actually sound like the noise it names, or is one word used again?

Now do it live in Sound Spotter

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 have a go at Identify a sound device together. Here comes the question: Worked example: Which sound pattern is used in this phrase? "The diagram labelled the mutton and the button." Before we race ahead, let us choose one good first step. Here is a helpful clue: Four things to test for: do several words in a row begin with the same sound, do two words end with the same sound, does one word actually sound like the noise it names, or is one word used again? Nice work. Now let us follow the thinking: "mutton" and "button" end with the same sound, and two different words ending alike is rhyme. There is no repeated opening-sound pattern, no word copies a noise, and no word is used twice. So our answer is: rhyme. There is one sneaky trap to watch for: Every option names a real sound pattern, so none of them looks wrong on its own. Only one of them is actually happening in this phrase. Can you show me that first move again in your own words? Brilliant. No rush; we are practising a method you can reuse, not trying to win a speed contest.

What this exercise is doing

Sound Spotter

This line uses ALLITERATION. Tap every word that starts with the repeated sound, and only those words.

The repeated sound here is "c", and it lives in "clever", "crabs", "crept" and "cold". Alliteration is a sound that repeats at the START of words that sit close together, which is why the little joining words are never part of it however they are spelled. Writers use alliteration to make a phrase stick in your head, which is why you find it in adverts and headlines as often as in poems.

What to say if they get stuck

Say the line out loud and listen to the very start of each word. Alliteration is a sound that comes back, not a letter that comes back.
Little joining words like "the", "and" and "of" never count, however they start. Look only at the words carrying the meaning.
4 words share the sound "c" here.

Open Sound Spotter on its own page to share it

Related english skills

Expand a common abbreviationReplace one common abbreviation with its conventional full form in context.
Identify figurative languageDistinguish a simile, metaphor, or personification from literal language.

All english 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about identify a sound device

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.

: Identify alliteration or sound imitation in a short phrase. It is one of 41 named English skills in the 11+, in the language strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: Every option names a real sound pattern, so none of them looks wrong on its own. Only one of them is actually happening in this phrase. 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. Four things to test for: do several words in a row begin with the same sound, do two words end with the same sound, does one word actually sound like the noise it names, or is one word used again?
: The skill map draws the line here: Excludes figurative comparison. 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 language strand holds 3 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to identify a sound device are expand a common abbreviation and identify figurative language. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
: Use Sound Spotter, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to identify a sound device, it runs in the browser with no account to make, nothing is scored, and nothing a child does here is recorded or sent anywhere. It also has its own link, so you can send it to a child without sending them anywhere else first.

Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar and punctuation are four different problems

A free diagnostic separates them, so practice goes where the gap actually is rather than on whichever one is easiest to set.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic