Rush Get Rush

Complete the word pair

Two pairs of words share a rule that turns one word into another, and you use it to finish a third pair. Here's how to find the rule every time.

Rush doesn’t practise complete the word pair yet. These games practise related skills: Analogies and Hidden Word.

Start the guide Practise 8 questions

Chapter 1

What are complete the word pair questions?

You’re shown two pairs of words. In each pair, the same rule turns the first word into the second, by dropping, adding, moving or changing letters.

The third pair has only its first word. You work out the rule, then use it to make the missing word.

  1. The two pairs. They show the rule twice: SPIN makes PIN, and BEND makes END.

  2. The third word. STOP is waiting for its partner.

The rule is usually about where letters sit in a word, though some rules add or change a particular letter. Chapter 4 covers middle words, a close cousin of this question.

Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

(SPIN, PIN) (BEND, END) (STOP, ?)

  • POT
  • TOP
  • POTS
  • SPOT
  • POST

Chapter 2

Solve it in 3 steps.

Here’s the question, one step at a time.

The question

Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

(SPIN, PIN) (BEND, END) (STOP, ?)

  • POT
  • TOP
  • POTS
  • SPOT
  • POST

  1. Step 1

    Number the letters of the first word.

    Write 1, 2, 3, 4 under SPIN. Then find where each letter of PIN sits in SPIN: P is 2nd, I is 3rd, N is 4th. Write PIN as places: 2, 3, 4.

    PIN is SPIN’s letters 2, 3 and 4.

  2. Step 2

    Check the places on the second pair.

    Number BEND the same way. END is its letters 2, 3, 4 as well, so the rule fits both pairs. If it didn’t, you’d go back to step 1 and look again.

    The same places, 2, 3, 4, in both pairs.

  3. Step 3

    Use the same places on the new word.

    Number STOP and take letters 2, 3, 4 in that order: T, O, P. TOP is a real word, so it’s the answer. If you get a word that isn’t real, a letter is in the wrong place, so check again.

    STOP’s letters 2, 3 and 4 make TOP.

Three traps in the options

The mistakeDo this instead
Right letters, wrong places. POT has the T, O and P of TOP, but in another order.Read the letters in the order of the places, 2, 3, 4. That gives TOP.
A rule that fits no pair. POTS is STOP backwards. But SPIN backwards is NIPS, not PIN.Test a rule on both pairs before you use it.
Moving letters instead of dropping one. SPOT and POST use all four letters of STOP.Count: PIN and END are one letter shorter than SPIN and BEND, so the answer has three.

So it’s TOP. STOP’s letters 2, 3 and 4 make TOP, just as SPIN’s make PIN and BEND’s make END.

Remember: Copy the places, not the letters.

Chapter 3

The catches.

Harder pairs use these. Each card is one catch, an example and the trap.

  • Letters can change places

    Follow the place, not the letter.

    HINT makes THIN and EARN makes NEAR: the last letter moves to the front, 4, 1, 2, 3. So EATS makes SEAT. Trap: moving the T, as in THIN, gives TEAS.

  • Some rules skip letters

    The places don’t have to sit side by side.

    CHAIR makes CAR and BUILT makes BIT, from letters 1, 3 and 5. So GREAT makes GET. Trap: EAT hides in GREAT, but its letters sit side by side.

  • A new letter can join in

    A letter the first word doesn’t have is part of the rule.

    BOLT makes BOLD and CARE makes CARD: the last letter becomes D each time. So HARM makes HARD. Trap: changing only a T, because BOLT ends in one.

  • A letter with two homes

    When a letter appears twice, the second pair decides.

    LET’s L could be TELL’s 3rd or 4th letter. PART makes TAP, letters 4, 2, 1, so it’s the 4th. GOLD makes DOG. Trap: LOG, from 3, 2, 1, which fits TELL only.

No word? Try another rule

The right rule always makes a real word. If yours doesn’t, number the letters again or try the usual rules.

  • Drop a letterSHOUT, SHOT
  • Add a letterHOP, SHOP
  • Change a letterMILK, SILK
  • BackwardsDRAW, WARD
  • Swap the endsDEAR, READ
  • Swap the halvesCHIN, INCH

Chapter 4

Middle word questions.

Papers ask these about twice as often as pairs. The word is made from two words instead of one, and the steps are the same.

Each group has three words. The one in brackets is made from letters of the two words beside it. The last group’s brackets are empty.

Number both outside words. For each letter of the middle word, find which word it came from, and which place.

Find the missing word. It is made from letters of the two words beside it, in the same way as the other groups.

(HEAT [HELD] FOLD) (NEED [NECK] ROCK) (BOND [ ? ] BEAT)

  • BEND
  • BOAT
  • BENT
  • BEAD
  • BOND

  1. Step 1

    Trace every letter to its word and place.

    HELD starts with H and E, HEAT’s 1st and 2nd letters. Then L and D, FOLD’s 3rd and 4th. So the rule is: left 1, left 2, right 3, right 4.

    Left word on top, right word below.

  2. Step 2

    Check it, then use the same places.

    NECK is NEED’s 1st and 2nd letters, then ROCK’s 3rd and 4th: the same rule. So take BO from BOND and AT from BEAT. BEND and BENT start with BEAT’s letters, so they’re out.

    The same places make NECK, then BOAT.

  • The first letter can come from the right

    Find where the first letter comes from before anything else.

    (RARE [JAR] JOBS) (DATE [CAT] CHIP) (DATA [ ? ] BITE). J isn’t in RARE, so it’s JOBS’s 1st letter. CAT shows that the next two are the left word’s 2nd and 3rd. So it’s BAT. Trap: DAB, which starts on the left.

  • The sides can take turns

    A letter in both words? The next group decides.

    (WINE [LINE] LOVE) (TEAR [READ] ROAD) (WEEK [ ? ] SWIM). LINE’s E ends both WINE and LOVE. READ settles it: right, left, left, right, ending in ROAD’s D. So it’s SEEM. Trap: SEEK, which ends with the left word.

So it’s BOAT. BO from BOND and AT from BEAT, the same places that make HELD and NECK.

Remember: Which word, which place.

Chapter 5

Try it yourself.

Easier ones first. Try each one before you open its answer.

  1. Question 1Level 1

    Find the missing word. It is made from letters of the two words beside it, in the same way as the other groups.

    (DARE [DATE] RATE) (HATE [HACK] KICK) (COAL [ ? ] LOOK)

    Show answer

    Answer: COOK.

    How to answer it

    1. DATE is DA from DARE and TE from RATE. HACK is HA from HATE and CK from KICK.
    2. So take CO from COAL and OK from LOOK. The answer is COOK.

  2. Question 2Level 1

    Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

    (CAP, CAPE) (KIT, KITE) (PIN, ?)

    Show answer

    Answer: PINE.

    How to answer it

    1. CAP becomes CAPE and KIT becomes KITE: an E goes on the end.
    2. PIN becomes PINE.

  3. Question 3Level 1

    Find the missing word. It is made from letters of the two words beside it, in the same way as the other groups.

    (BATH [BOTH] BOLT) (FALL [TELL] TEAM) (GONE [ ? ] LAID)

    Show answer

    Answer: LANE.

    How to answer it

    1. BOTH is BO from BOLT and TH from BATH. TELL is TE from TEAM and LL from FALL.
    2. This time the first two letters come from the right-hand word. LA from LAID and NE from GONE make LANE.

  4. Question 4Level 2

    Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

    (BAKE, BIKE) (LANE, LINE) (TAME, ?)

    • TIDE
    • TAKE
    • TIME
    • ITEM
    • TILE
    Show answer

    Answer: TIME.

    How to answer it

    1. BAKE becomes BIKE and LANE becomes LINE. Only the second letter changes, and it always becomes I.
    2. TAME becomes TIME.
    Why the other answers are wrong
    • TIDETwo letters changed. In BIKE and LINE only the second letter is new.
    • TAKEThe third letter changed. The rule changes the second, to I.
    • ITEMThe same letters as TIME, moved about. The rule keeps every other letter in its place.
    • TILEThe M changed to L as well as A to I. Only one letter changes.

  5. Question 5Level 2

    Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

    (STAR, RATS) (SPOT, TOPS) (FLOW, ?)

    Show answer

    Answer: WOLF.

    How to answer it

    1. RATS is STAR written backwards, and TOPS is SPOT backwards.
    2. FLOW backwards is WOLF.

  6. Question 6Level 2

    Find the missing word. It is made from letters of the two words beside it, in the same way as the other groups.

    (WIRE [WIDE] RUDE) (BATH [BAKE] BIKE) (WISE [ ? ] SEND)

    • WINE
    • SIDE
    • WIND
    • SEND
    Show answer

    Answer: WIND.

    How to answer it

    1. WIDE: W and I from WIRE, D from RUDE. The E is the last letter of both WIRE and RUDE, so it could come from either.
    2. BAKE settles it: BA from BATH, K and E from BIKE. BATH has no E, so the last letter comes from the right-hand word.
    3. WI from WISE, ND from SEND. The answer is WIND.
    Why the other answers are wrong
    • WINEThis takes the last letter from WISE. It fits WIDE, where both outside words end in E, but not BAKE, because BATH has no E.
    • SIDESIDE starts with SEND's first letter. WIDE and BAKE both start with the left-hand word's first letter.
    • SENDSEND is the right-hand word itself. Only its last two letters are used.

  7. Question 7Level 3

    Find the word that completes the last pair in the same way as the others.

    (PALE, LEAP) (TAME, MEAT) (DARE, ?)

    Show answer

    Answer: READ.

    How to answer it

    1. Number PALE 1, 2, 3, 4. LEAP is the third letter, the fourth, the second, then the first: 3, 4, 2, 1.
    2. Check it on TAME: 3, 4, 2, 1 gives M, E, A, T. MEAT.
    3. DARE with 3, 4, 2, 1 gives R, E, A, D. The answer is READ.

  8. Question 8Level 3

    Find the missing word. It is made from letters of the two words beside it, in the same way as the other groups.

    (PALM [CALL] COAL) (LOGO [LOGS] LEGS) (BOLD [ ? ] BEAT)

    • BALL
    • BOAT
    • BOLT
    • BELT
    Show answer

    Answer: BOLT.

    How to answer it

    1. CALL: C from COAL. A is in both PALM and COAL, and so is L, so CALL alone allows several rules.
    2. LOGS settles it. O is only in LOGO, in second or fourth place, and CALL rules out the fourth, so it's the second. S is only in LEGS, in fourth place.
    3. Put together, the rule is right 1, left 2, left 3, right 4. B from BEAT, O and L from BOLD, T from BEAT. The answer is BOLT.
    Why the other answers are wrong
    • BALLThis takes A from the right-hand word and uses BOLD's one L for both of the last two letters. It can be traced in CALL, but not in LOGS, where the O and G come from LOGO.
    • BOATBOAT takes its third letter from BEAT. In CALL the third letter is L, but COAL's third letter is A, so it must come from PALM.
    • BELTBELT takes its second letter from BEAT. In LOGS the second letter is O, and LEGS has no O.
Next in verbal reasoning Word ladders How to answer 11+ word ladder questions: mark the letters that change, test the only two possible steps, and spot when one letter has to change twice. Read the guide

For parents.

What parents ask us about complete the word pair.

Questions parents ask

What is complete the word pair in 11+ verbal reasoning?

The question shows two pairs of words where the same rule turns the first word into the second, such as dropping the first letter or writing the word backwards. A third pair has only its first word, and the child uses the rule to finish it.

Is the middle word question the same thing?

It's the same skill with two source words instead of one. Some lists call it make a word. A different question, which words can be made from the letters of one long word, goes by the same name and is on our anagrams page.

What if the word I make isn't a real word?

Then a letter was traced to the wrong place. Look for a letter that appears in both outside words, or twice in one, and try its other home. The questions are set so that the right rule always makes a real word.

Does my child need to number the letters every time?

No. Rules like first two letters of one word and last two of the other are quick to spot by eye after a few tries. Numbering is for when the first guess fails, when a letter appears twice, or when the letters are rearranged.

Practise the related skills in Rush.

  • AnalogiesEach round asks how one word is linked to another and then wants the same link for a third word. A word pair asks the same thing about letters instead of meanings.
  • Hidden WordIt trains reading the letters of words as letters, without their sound or meaning getting in the way, which is how a middle word has to be traced.

Six games are free, plus a new family game every day. All 41 games are £24.99 a year after a free week1, or £3.99 a month.

Download Rush on the App Store

Available on iPhone and iPad