Vocabulary
Word meaning questions give you a short meaning and ask which word it describes. Here’s how to find it, even when you only half know the words.
Chapter 1
What are word meaning questions?
Each question gives you a short meaning, like “very frightening”, and four words. You pick the word that the meaning describes.
It’s a dictionary turned round: you’re given the meaning, and you find the word.
The meaning. One short line, like a dictionary’s.
The words. Four in Rush. They’re all the same kind of word, so that won’t rule any out.
The answer. The one word the meaning fits. You don’t always need to know it: you can rule the others out.
In the exam, word meanings mostly come up inside a reading passage. Chapter 4 shows that version.
Very frightening.
Which word has this meaning?
- Option 1: wary
- Option 2: frightful
- Option 3: ridiculous
- Option 4: delightful
A Verbal question from Rush, level 1.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 3 steps.
Here’s the question, one step at a time.
The question
Very frightening.
Which word has this meaning?
- Option 1: wary
- Option 2: frightful
- Option 3: ridiculous
- Option 4: delightful
A Verbal question from Rush, level 1.
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Step 1
Nice, nasty or neither?
Decide how the meaning feels. Very frightening is nasty, so the answer must be a nasty word too. Delightful is a nice word, so cross it out.
Very frighteninga nasty meaning
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Step 2
Split it into parts.
Look inside each word for a part you know. Frightful is fright + ful, and ‑ful means full of. Full of fright is very frightening.
+Frightful: full of fright.
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Step 3
Try it in a phrase.
Put the words into phrases you’ve heard. A frightful storm is very frightening. A wary cat is careful, because it’s the one who’s scared. A ridiculous hat is very silly.
a frightful storm
very frighteninga
careful: it’s the one who’s scaredwarycata
very sillyridiculoushat
Two mistakes it sets
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Picking wary. It’s about fear too, so it feels close. But wary describes the one who feels scared, and the meaning describes the thing that scares. | Ask who the word describes: the one who feels it, or the thing that causes it. |
| Picking delightful. It ends in ‑ful, just like frightful, so the two look like a pair. | The ending only says full of. The front part says full of what: fright or delight. |
So it’s frightful. Fright + ful is full of fright, and a frightful storm is very frightening.
Remember: Feel it. Split it. Phrase it.
Chapter 3
When you only half know a word.
The harder questions need these. Each card has the rule, an example from Rush and the trap.
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+ +
Front, middle and end
Each part of a long word can carry meaning.
The front is the prefix, the middle the root, the end the suffix. Inaudible is not + hear + can be: it can’t be heard. So for “too quiet to hear”, it’s inaudible. Trap: not every word splits. Wary has no parts, so go straight to a phrase.
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Parts can fool you
A part counts only if its meaning fits.
In‑ means not in inaudible, but into in inhale: to breathe air in. And overt has nothing to do with over. It means done openly. Trap: trusting a part without checking it in a phrase.
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quiet now wakes again dormant ✓ ✓ extinct ✓ ✗ Long meaning? Check every part
The answer fits the whole meaning, not half.
Rush asks for “inactive for a time but able to become active again”. A dormant volcano is quiet now but could erupt, so it’s dormant. Trap: a word like extinct, which fits only the first half. An extinct volcano never erupts again.
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Never met it? Rule out the rest
Cross out the words you know. What’s left is the answer.
For “very wicked or evil”, you may never have seen nefarious. But resonant means deep and ringing, supposed means thought to be true, and abrasive means rough and harsh. Trap: abrasive is nasty, so check it means wicked. It doesn’t.
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A plain meaning, a grand word
Many answers are a formal way to say an everyday word.
Rush asks for “to begin something”, and the answer is commence, as in “the concert will commence at seven”. Notices and letters are full of these. Trap: skipping a word because it sounds too grand for a plain meaning.
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An easy word in a new job
A plain word among hard ones? Ask what else it means.
For “to accept responsibility for a difficult task”, the answer is shoulder: she shouldered all the work. Rush does this with temper (make a taste milder) and stress (give a point extra force) too. Trap: ruling out a word as too easy.
Word parts worth learning
These turn up again and again. Learn the part and its meaning, and every word that has it gets easier.
- benegood, wellbenefit
- malbadmalicious
- subundersubmarine
- transacrosstransport
- prebeforepreview
- omniallomnivore
- audhearaudience
- spectlookspectator
- chrontimechronological
- portcarryportable
- ‑lesswithoutspotless
- ‑ologystudy ofbiology
Chapter 4: In the exam
A word in a reading passage.
Reading papers ask what a word means in one line of a story or article, with five options. Rush doesn’t ask this version, but the same steps help.
The questionWhich word is closest in meaning to fair as it is used in this line? “Everyone agreed the referee had been fair, even though our team lost.”pale, impartial, sunny, pretty, average
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Step 1
Read the whole line.
Cover the word and ask what the line needs. “Even though our team lost” is the clue: the referee didn’t take our side.
Everyone agreed the referee had been fair, even though our team lost.
He didn’t take our side.
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Step 2
Pick the meaning this line needs.
Every option is a real meaning of fair, and that’s the trap. Only one suits a referee: impartial, which means not taking sides.
So it’s impartial. A fair referee doesn’t take either team’s side.
Remember: Read the line, not just the word.
Two more ways it’s asked
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Mia is usually chatty, but today she was reticent and hardly spoke.
But turns chatty round: reticent means quiet.
A word you’ve never met
Clue words point the way.
But, although and however turn the meaning round. And, also and such as keep it going. Here, but turns chatty round, so reticent means quiet. Trap: angry or tired. They might explain her silence, but they aren’t what reticent means.
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Her heart sank when she saw the score.
She felt disappointed.
A phrase, not a word
Ask what’s really happening.
Some questions ask what a whole phrase means. Her heart didn’t really move: “her heart sank” means she felt disappointed. Trap: reading it word by word. Ask how the person feels, then find the option that says so.
Chapter 5
Grow your word bank.
The exam can use any word, so the best help is meeting lots of them. For children and parents.
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We held hands on the treacherous ice.
Read, and guess first
Read every day, including books that stretch you. Meet a new word? Guess from the sentence and its parts, then check. Parents: ask “what do you think it means?” first.
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meticulous Ava is meticulous about her labels.
Keep a word book
Write the word, its meaning in your own words, and a sentence of your own. Read it back now and then. About five new words a week is plenty.
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Meet it again
A word sticks when you meet it again a few days later, then a week after that. Use it out loud too. Rush keeps every word you miss, with its meaning.
Chapter 6
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Nice, nasty or neither?
- Split it into parts.
- Try it in a phrase.
Remember: Feel it. Split it. Phrase it.
For parents.
More on vocabulary, and what parents ask us.
More on vocabulary
A starter list: 24 words from Rush, with meanings
Level 1
- reluctant
- not wanting to do something
- fatigue
- great tiredness after effort or illness
- immediate
- happening without delay
- intricate
- full of small, complicated details
- inaudible
- too quiet to hear
- unkempt
- messy and not well cared for
- distant
- far away in space or time
- inhale
- to breathe air in
Level 2
- curb
- to control or reduce something
- conscience
- the inner sense that helps you judge right from wrong
- gauge
- to measure the level of something
- impartial
- fair and not taking sides
- imminent
- about to happen very soon
- transparent
- clear so you can see through it
- intermittent
- starting and stopping repeatedly
- unanimous
- with everyone agreeing
Level 3
- aesthetic
- concerned with beauty or how something looks
- unwarranted
- not justified by the facts or situation
- prevalent
- common or widespread
- predecessor
- the person who held a role before someone else
- philanthropist
- someone who gives money or time to help other people
- antiquated
- old-fashioned and no longer useful
- emphatic
- said or done with force to make a point clear
- concur
- to agree with someone
Questions parents ask
Is there an official 11+ vocabulary list?
No. No 11+ test publishes the words it will use, so any list on sale is someone's selection. Knowing everyday words precisely, including their second meanings, matters as much as learning rare ones.
How many new words should my child learn each week?
About five is plenty, if each one comes back a few days later. A word is learned when your child can use it in their own sentence and recognise it in someone else's.
What's the best way to build vocabulary for the 11+?
Talk about words as you meet them in books. Before looking one up, ask your child what it might mean from the sentence around it, then check. Working a meaning out from the words around it is the skill the reading questions test. Lining up words that mean nearly the same, from weakest to strongest (cross, angry, furious), teaches the small differences between words that the options test.
Do vocabulary games help?
They help when the game makes your child choose between close options, because that's what the papers do. Matching a word to a picture is too easy. Matching it to a meaning with a look-alike beside it is much closer to the real thing.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise vocabulary in Rush.
- Word Meanings as 100-second games, easy at first and harder as your child improves
- Every miss kept with the right answer and why
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