What does a child have to do to place words in a constraint grid in the 11+?

Fit supplied words into a grid using length and crossing constraints. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the grid strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.

What is the trap in an 11+ place words in a constraint grid question?

A word that fits one clue can still be refused by another: a square is only settled when no clue rules it out. 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 place words in a constraint grid in the 11+?

The skill map draws the line here: Every placement must satisfy all crossings. 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.

How can my child practise place words in a constraint grid for free?

Use Placing Words by Constraints, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to place words in a constraint grid, 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.

Verbal Reasoning · Grid

Place words in a constraint grid

Fit supplied words into a grid using length and crossing constraints.

Practise it now

Drop all 6 instruments words into the grid so that every clue is true at once.

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.

Starting with the clue that decides most

The 6 words are yew, elm, ash, rowan, holly, oak. Put them into a grid of 2 rows and 3 columns, one word in each square. elm sits directly above ash. ash sits immediately to the left of holly. yew sits directly above oak. holly sits immediately to the left of oak. Which word ends up in the top middle square?

Fill one grid in and see why every clue has to be reread once a square is filled.

yew
ash
rowan
holly

Answer: rowan

How you get there

Only one arrangement makes every clue true at once, and in it the top middle square holds rowan. None of the clues is spare: take any one away and a second arrangement becomes possible, which means each one has to be used. "yew" fits some of the clues, and that is the trap, because a word only belongs in a square when NO clue refuses it. Start with the clue that leaves the fewest choices, write that word in, and then reread the other clues with the grid partly filled, because a clue that told you nothing at first often decides the next square.

Why the other answers tempt

A word that fits one clue can still be refused by another: a square is only settled when no clue rules it out.

If they are stuck, say this

Draw the grid and put in the word whose clue leaves it the fewest choices, then read the other clues again with that square filled.

Now do it live in Placing Words by Constraints

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.

Let's try Place words in a constraint grid. Fill one grid in and see why every clue has to be reread once a square is filled. Here comes the question: The 6 words are yew, elm, ash, rowan, holly, oak. Put them into a grid of 2 rows and 3 columns, one word in each square. elm sits directly above ash. ash sits immediately to the left of holly. yew sits directly above oak. holly sits immediately to the left of oak. Which word ends up in the top middle square? Clue: Draw the grid and put in the word whose clue leaves it the fewest choices, then read the other clues again with that square filled. Thinking: Start with the clue that leaves the fewest choices, write that word in, and then reread the other clues with the grid partly filled, because a clue that told you nothing at first often decides the next square. Answer: rowan. Sneaky trap: A word that fits one clue can still be refused by another: a square is only settled when no clue rules it out. Show me the first move. No rush.

What this exercise is doing

Placing Words by Constraints

Drop all 6 instruments words into the grid so that every clue is true at once.

The clues are not hints, they are the answer taken apart. "flute sits immediately to the left of tuba." fixes one word, "flute sits immediately to the left of tuba." hangs the next one off it, and the rest follow because each word can only be in one cell. violin ends up in the top row, left column, and once you have checked all 3 clues there is nothing left to choose: a puzzle with two arrangements would not be a puzzle.

What to say if they get stuck

Start with the clue that fixes something on its own: "flute sits immediately to the left of tuba."
Then chain off it: "flute sits immediately to the left of tuba."
There is exactly one arrangement that keeps all 3 clues true - if a clue turns red, that word cannot live there.

Open Placing Words by Constraints on its own page to share it

Questions parents ask about place words in a constraint grid

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.

: Fit supplied words into a grid using length and crossing constraints. It is one of 26 named verbal reasoning skills in the 11+, in the grid strand, and this page carries 1 interactive exercise that practises it.
: A word that fits one clue can still be refused by another: a square is only settled when no clue rules it out. 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. Draw the grid and put in the word whose clue leaves it the fewest choices, then read the other clues again with that square filled.
: The skill map draws the line here: Every placement must satisfy all crossings. 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.
: Use Placing Words by Constraints, embedded on this page. It is the exercise the skill map attaches to place words in a constraint grid, 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.

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