What does a child have to do to form a derived word in the 11+?

Form one valid new word from a supplied base using the permitted letter operation. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the word strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.

What is the trap in an 11+ form a derived word question?

An option that starts and ends like the base can still be two changes away, and two changes is not one. 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 form a derived word in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: The operation is supplied; excludes compound joining, anagrams, and moving a letter between two words. A question past that line is testing a different named verbal reasoning skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.

Which other 11+ skills should we practise alongside form a derived word?

The word strand holds 9 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to form a derived word are move a letter between words, identify an impossible word formation and solve an anagram in context. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.

How can my child practise form a derived word for free?

Use Affix Slot Machine and Word Morpher, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to form a derived word, 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.

Verbal Reasoning · Word

Form a derived word

Form one valid new word from a supplied base using the permitted letter operation.

Practise it now

Spin the reels until the three parts build the word in the definition, then pull the lever.

This exercise practises form a derived word alongside its own main skill, Prefixes and Suffixes.

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.

Lining the letters up before you decide

Add exactly one letter to EACH so that the result is still a real word. Which of these words can you make?

Work one base word through and see why every option being real is the point.

GECKO
BEACH
HORSE
MONEY

Answer: BEACH

How you get there

BEACH is EACH with one letter added and nothing else moved, which is exactly what the instruction allows. Every option here is a real word, so "is it a word" decides nothing: "GECKO" is real too, and it fails because you cannot get to it from EACH in a single step. Write the base above the option and compare them letter by letter, because that turns a guess into a count.

Why the other answers tempt

An option that starts and ends like the base can still be two changes away, and two changes is not one.

If they are stuck, say this

Write the base word out and put each option underneath it, lining the letters up. Only one option is a single permitted step away.

Now do it live in Affix Slot Machine

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 Form a derived word together. Work one base word through and see why every option being real is the point. Here comes the question: Add exactly one letter to EACH so that the result is still a real word. Which of these words can you make? Before we race ahead, let us choose one good first step. Here is a helpful clue: Write the base word out and put each option underneath it, lining the letters up. Only one option is a single permitted step away. Nice work. Now let us follow the thinking: Every option here is a real word, so "is it a word" decides nothing: "GECKO" is real too, and it fails because you cannot get to it from EACH in a single step. So our answer is: BEACH. There is one sneaky trap to watch for: An option that starts and ends like the base can still be two changes away, and two changes is not one. 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.

How each of these 2 exercises teaches it

Affix Slot Machine

Spin the reels until the three parts build the word in the definition, then pull the lever.

This engine’s own main skill is Prefixes and Suffixes. It practises form a derived word alongside it.

Long words are built, not memorised. Take the root first, because it carries the meaning: appear is the picture of something coming into sight. Then read the prefix as an instruction to that root. un and dis both flip it, re sends it round again, mis says it went wrong. Finally the suffix sets the timing: ing for happening now, s for one person doing it, ment to turn it into a thing, and a blank to leave the plain verb. dis + appear + nothing gives disappear, the opposite of coming into sight. Build any unfamiliar word this way and you can usually work out what it means without being told.

What to say if they get stuck

Start with the root in the middle. Which of the four roots is closest to the meaning?
Now the prefix. Some flip a word to its opposite, some mean again, some mean badly.
The suffix reel has a blank on it. If the definition says "to ..." you usually want the blank.

Open Affix Slot Machine on its own page to share it

Word Morpher

Build the word unhappiness. Drag affixes onto the word - some will not stick.

This engine’s own main skill is Prefixes & Suffixes. It practises form a derived word alongside it.

Long words are rarely new words: they are small words wearing extra parts. "un-" flips the meaning to its opposite, and "-ness" turns a describing word into a naming word (an adjective into a noun). Split any unfamiliar word into root + affixes and you can usually work out what it means without ever having seen it before.

What to say if they get stuck

Prefixes clip onto the front. Which one turns a word into its opposite?
Once you have unhappy, you can keep going - suffixes still fit on the end.
When -ness joins a word ending in y, the y turns into an i: happy → happiness.

Open Word Morpher on its own page to share it

How form a derived word differs from the skills beside it

The same exercise practises one other skill, and telling them apart is often the difficulty rather than the exercise itself. On this page the skill is: form one valid new word from a supplied base using the permitted letter operation, and it stops where the operation is supplied; excludes compound joining, anagrams, and moving a letter between two words.

Apply a prefix or suffix
Form a word by adding one prefix or suffix with the required spelling change. One affix operation only.

Related verbal reasoning skills

Apply a word transformation ruleApply one stated letter-level transformation rule to form a valid target word.
Complete a word with a letterSupply a letter that makes a valid word under the stated constraint.
Find a hidden wordLocate a continuous target word across a bounded letter string.
Follow a word ladderChange one permitted letter at each step while preserving valid intermediate words.
Form a compound wordJoin two supplied word parts to make a conventional compound.
Move a letter between wordsMove one supplied letter from one word to another so both results are valid words.
Identify an impossible word formationDetermine which candidate cannot be formed under a supplied letter rule.
Solve an anagram in contextRearrange all supplied letters into a context-compatible word.

All verbal reasoning 11+ skills

Questions parents ask about form a derived word

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.

: Form one valid new word from a supplied base using the permitted letter operation. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the word strand, and this page carries 2 interactive exercises that practise it.
: An option that starts and ends like the base can still be two changes away, and two changes is not one. 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. Write the base word out and put each option underneath it, lining the letters up. Only one option is a single permitted step away.
: The skill map draws the line here: The operation is supplied; excludes compound joining, anagrams, and moving a letter between two words. A question past that line is testing a different named verbal reasoning skill, which is worth knowing before you spend a week practising the wrong one.
: The word strand holds 9 skills that are tested together, and the pages next to form a derived word are move a letter between words, identify an impossible word formation and solve an anagram in context. Each has its own exercise and its own link, and none of them needs an account.
: Use Affix Slot Machine and Word Morpher, embedded on this page. They are the exercises the skill map attaches to form a derived word, 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.

Verbal reasoning is a set of question types, not a subject to revise

A free diagnostic works out which of the codes, analogies, word puzzles and logic types are already secure, and which are not.

Start the free 11+ diagnostic