Sixty-two words. Tap any one to hear how it sounds. Nine of them you can pull about until the meaning is obvious. Then three games and forty-eight questions.
Six families. Words are far easier to hold when they arrive with their relatives.
Nearly every story question is really asking what was this person feeling?
These describe the way an action was carried out — usually the whole answer to a ‘this suggests he…’ question.
Tap to play both. Abrupt is a cut. The other one fades. Nothing in the word tells you about loudness.
Animal science writing reuses the same small set of words. Know these and any page about a predator gets easy.
Tap to fire the web. Immobilised is not the same as dead — it just cannot move.
Press and hold to load the force, then let go. Propel always needs a push behind it.
Full tank. Tap Spray to use some. Then watch it fill back up — slowly. That is why an animal that has just hunted is a bad hunter.
Slide until you cannot find it. Camouflage hides by matching — never by running.
Words for looking alike, copying, and changing. They are close cousins, and the test lives in the gap between them.
Drag the line. It only lines up in one place — that is the line of symmetry.
Intact. Tap the egg. Nothing about the word says new or clean — only unbroken.
Each one means something the words do not say. You cannot work them out — you have to have met them.
These are not in the story. They are in the question. Miss one and the question is unanswerable.
Tap. When a writer puts two unlike things side by side, that is contrast — and the answer is always about the difference.
I knew you would come.
Tap any word to lean on it, then read the sentence out loud. The meaning moves. That is the whole reason for italics — emphasis.
Same sixty-two words, three different jobs: match the picture, fill the gap, and pick what you heard. Each one reshuffles every time.
Tap a picture, then its word. Clear all four pairs.
One word is missing. Only one of the four fits.
Tap the speaker, then choose the picture you heard.
Forty-eight questions, shuffled so no two in a row come from the same family — working out which family a question belongs to is half the skill. Tap and you find out straight away, including why the wrong one looked right.
Ana crossed the line first and spent the rest of the afternoon reminding everyone about it. Which word best describes Ana?
A. Smug is not just pleased — it is pleased in a way other people can see, and get tired of. Relieved would need a worry to lift first, and nothing here says Ana was worried.How someone feels
Priya picked up the hot dish gingerly. This tells you she
C. Gingerly is not just ‘slowly’. It carries the reason: you move that way because you expect pain.How it was done
‘A lethal night-time hunter.’ ‘Lethal’ tells you the animal
B. Lethal always means deadly. Size and hiding are different ideas — do not let ‘night-time’ pull you towards them.Hunting and danger
‘Resemble’ means to
D. Resemble is about looks only. ‘Act in the same way’ is the trap — it is about behaviour, which is a different word (imitate).The same, or changed?
‘The plan needs a good dose of common sense.’ ‘A good dose of’ means
A. A dose is an amount of medicine — enough of it to work. So ‘a good dose of imagination’ means plenty of imagination, not a little.Sayings that hide their meaning
A writer contrasts two things in order to show
B. Contrast → difference. Compare → likeness. If a question says ‘the writer uses contrast’, the answer will be about two things that clash.The words the questions use
‘Mr Ito waved his arms about as if his life depended on it.’ This suggests he waved
A. ‘As if his life depended on it’ is about how much effort went in, not about fear. The trap is reading the word life and jumping to danger.How it was done
‘Prey’ means
D. Predator hunts; prey gets hunted. They are opposites and they look nothing alike — but under time pressure they are the most-swapped pair in the paper.Hunting and danger
‘The parrot mimicked her laugh.’ ‘Mimicked’ means
C. Mimic = copy the way someone speaks or moves. If a character mimics another’s voice, they are copying it — often to tease.The same, or changed?
‘The class hung on every word.’ This means the class was
C. You hold on to a speaker you do not want to miss. The trap is ‘struggling with hard vocabulary’ — that would make it a complaint, and the phrase is always a compliment.Sayings that hide their meaning
A writer compares a glue spray to a garden hose. This tells you the two things are
A. A comparison points at one shared quality — here, the shape of the spray. It never means the two things are the same in every way.The words the questions use
Tom stood petrified at the top of the ladder. ‘Petrified’ means he was
B. The word comes from petra, meaning rock — but it is never used to mean actually made of stone. It means fear so strong you freeze. ‘Slightly worried’ is far too weak.How someone feels
To ambush means to
A. The surprise is the word. An animal that ambushes waits — the opposite of chasing.Hunting and danger
‘The chef tinkered with the recipe.’ Which word could replace ‘tinkered with’ and keep the meaning?
B. Tinkering is making small changes to something that already exists. Borrowed is tempting because he started from someone else’s recipe — but that is not what the phrase says.The same, or changed?
‘He had the nerve to ask for a second slice.’ The writer thinks the boy was
B. ‘Had the nerve to’ is always a complaint — the speaker is annoyed. Brave is the trap, because ‘nerve’ on its own sounds like courage.Sayings that hide their meaning
A word is put in italics mainly to
C. Slanted letters lean on a word so you stress it when you read: I knew you would come. The most common reason on a test is always emphasis.The words the questions use
‘To his chagrin, the answer had been on the board the whole time.’ Chagrin means he felt
C. Chagrin holds two feelings at once: the embarrassment of having missed it, and the disappointment of what it cost. It is a quiet feeling, so ‘loudly angry’ is wrong.How someone feels
He signed the form absent-mindedly and only later saw it was the wrong one. ‘Absent-mindedly’ means
D. The body is present; the mind is absent. It explains the mistake — he was not paying attention, not that he was missing or slow.How it was done
‘Intact’ means
A. in- = not, tact = touched. Something can be old, dirty and still perfectly intact — the word says nothing about age.The same, or changed?
‘Pride comes before a fall’ warns you that
B. When a character says this about themselves, they are telling you the boast came first and the disaster came second. Expect the disaster.Sayings that hide their meaning
A question asks: ‘Which quotation proves that…?’ A quotation is
D. A quotation is word for word, inside quote marks. To answer this kind of question, test each quoted line and ask: does this one line, by itself, prove it?The words the questions use
Ella keeps checking the clock and cannot eat her breakfast. Her test is at ten. Ella is
D. Anxious worry points forward, at something that has not happened yet. Relieved would mean it was already over.How someone feels
‘Seldom’ means
B. Seldom sits between sometimes and never — rare, but it does happen. If a character’s instincts are ‘seldom wrong’, they are usually right.How it was done
The web immobilises the fly. This means the fly
C. im- = not, mobile = moving. Immobilised is not the same as dead — that comes later, if at all.Hunting and danger
‘He cannot ride a bike, let alone a horse.’ ‘Let alone’ tells you that riding a horse is
D. ‘Let alone’ always points at the harder thing second. ‘I had not put the wheels on, let alone had a test run’ means the test run was even further out of reach.Sayings that hide their meaning
A question asks about the writer’s purpose. It wants to know
C. Purpose questions are always why questions. Stop looking for facts in the story and ask what the writer was trying to do to you.The words the questions use
Humiliation is worse than ordinary embarrassment mainly because it
B. The sting of humiliation is the audience. Embarrassment can happen alone; humiliation needs someone watching.How someone feels
The music stopped abruptly. This means it stopped
D. Abrupt is a cut, not a fade. Nothing in the word tells you about volume.How it was done
‘The seeds are propelled two metres from the pod.’ ‘Propelled’ means
A. pro- = forward. Propelled needs a force behind it — that is what makes it different from ‘dropped’.Hunting and danger
A symmetrical shape
C. Symmetry is about the two halves matching, and nothing else. A triangle can be symmetrical; so can a butterfly.The same, or changed?
A story told from Sam’s perspective means
D. Perspective = whose head we are inside. A book about Sam is not automatically told from Sam’s perspective.The words the questions use
‘But I was here first!’ shouted Ravi. Ravi is
D. Indignant is anger that believes it is in the right — anger about unfairness. Ravi is not frightened or flooded; he thinks he has been wronged.How someone feels
Which word tells you something was done on purpose?
B. Deliberately means a decision was made. Cautiously and hastily describe the speed and care, not the intention — you can do an accident hastily.How it was done
‘It takes about 20 days to replenish its supply.’ ‘Replenish’ means to
C. re- = again, and think of plenty. A long replenish time is a clue that the animal cannot afford to waste what it has.Hunting and danger
‘Identical’ is stronger than ‘similar’ because identical means
A. Identical allows no difference at all. If a question offers both similar and identical, it is checking whether you noticed the gap.The same, or changed?
‘The manager was losing her grip on the team.’ This means she was
D. Nothing is actually being held. A grip stands for control — the same way ‘lose your grip on the search’ means the search is getting away from you.Sayings that hide their meaning
The noise, the crowd, the questions and the flashing lights all arrived at once, and Sam could not think where to start. Sam felt
A. Overwhelmed is being flooded by too much at once. It is not the same as frightened — notice that nothing here is dangerous, only too much.How someone feels
He hastily packed his bag and left his ticket on the table. ‘Hastily’ suggests
A. Hastily is not simply quickly. It carries the idea of being too fast to be careful — which is why the sentence ends in a lost ticket.How it was done
‘The kit comprises a torch, a map and a whistle.’ ‘Comprises’ means
D. Comprise puts the whole first and the parts after. When a text says the glue comprises water, fats and sugars, it is listing the ingredients.Hunting and danger
Which sentence uses ‘alter’ correctly?
B. Alter simply means change, and it needs a thing to change. You cannot alter loudly or alter up anything.The same, or changed?
‘A twist’ in a story is
C. The story bends where you expected it to go straight. A review praising ‘unexpected twists’ is saying the plot keeps surprising you.Sayings that hide their meaning
In ‘a nailbiting finish’, the word ‘nailbiting’ is
A. It sits in front of finish and describes it, so it is an adjective — even though it is built out of a verb (biting). Ask what the word is doing in the sentence, not what it looks like.The words the questions use
The cat watched the bird intently. ‘Intently’ means the cat watched
C. Intently is total concentration. When a character ‘stares intently’, the writer is telling you they are reading the other person.How it was done
Which pair of words together tell you an animal is a successful hunter?
B. Lethal = it kills. Predator = it hunts. Put together, that is an effective hunter. The other pairs describe what the animal looks like or where it lives — never what it can do.Hunting and danger
‘The two birds have distinct calls.’ ‘Distinct’ means the calls are
D. Distinct = easy to tell apart. (It has a second use — a distinct smell of smoke means a clear one — but here two things are being separated.)The same, or changed?
‘A perfect cartwheel. Gymnasts, eat your heart out!’ The writer is
A. It is a cheeky joke that means ‘look how good this is’. Writers use it to be funny, so it is a clue to a light, humorous tone.Sayings that hide their meaning
A recount is a text that
B. re-count = tell it again, in order. A diary entry about a race is a recount; a list of steps for building something is instructions.The words the questions use
Which word tells you that a friend did not stand by you?
C. dis- = not, loyal = true to someone. Reluctant only means slow and unwilling — a reluctant friend still turns up.How someone feels
Try the whole set first. There is no time limit — getting it right matters more than getting it fast.
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