Hidden words
A four-letter word is hiding across the gap between two words in a sentence. Here's how to find it every time.
Chapter 1
What are hidden word questions?
Each question is a short sentence with a four-letter word hiding in it. The word starts at the end of one word and runs into the start of the next, right across the gap between them.
In “his pin”, the S at the end of his and the P, I, N of pin spell SPIN. You pick the pair of words that hides the word.
The sentence. An ordinary sentence. What it means doesn’t matter.
The gaps. The spaces between the words. The hidden word always crosses one.
The answers. Pairs of words that sit side by side: four in Rush, five in the exam. Only one pair hides a word.
My skin gets dry in winter.
Which two words hide a four-letter word?
- Option 1: in winter
- Option 2: gets dry
- Option 3: my skin
- Option 4: skin gets
A Verbal question from Rush, level 2.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 3 steps.
Here’s the question, one step at a time.
The question
My skin gets dry in winter.
Which two words hide a four-letter word?
- Option 1: in winter
- Option 2: gets dry
- Option 3: my skin
- Option 4: skin gets
A Verbal question from Rush, level 2.
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Step 1
Find the gap in each answer.
Each answer is two words that sit side by side. The hidden word must cross the gap between them, so that’s where you look. Capital letters and full stops don’t count.
Four answers, four gaps to check.
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Step 2
Slide four letters across the gap.
Read four letters three ways: three from the left word and one from the right, then two and two, then one and three. Gets dry gives ETSD, TSDR and SDRY. None is a word, so move on.
Three tries at one gap. No word.
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Step 3
Stop at a real four-letter word.
Do the same at the other gaps. The words my and in have only two letters, so my skin and in winter get just two tries each, and neither makes a word. At skin gets, three and one makes KING. It’s a real word, so stop.
KIN from skin, G from gets.
Three traps in this question
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Picking a word that doesn’t cross the gap. My skin has SKIN in it, and gets dry has GETS. Both are real four-letter words, but each is just one word of the sentence. | Check your four letters come from both words, some from each side of the gap. |
| Only trying two and two. Two from each side feels fair. At skin gets that gives INGE, so you’d cross skin gets out and miss KING. | Give every gap all three tries: three and one, two and two, one and three. |
| Grabbing the first word you see. WIN jumps out of in winter. But it has only three letters, and it sits inside winter. | Count four letters across the gap, every time. |
So it’s skin gets, option 4. The K, I, N at the end of skin and the G at the start of gets make KING.
Remember: Every gap, three ways.
Chapter 3
The catches.
Harder questions hide the word where it’s easy to miss.
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Short words can be used whole
A little word can give all its letters. “My cricket bat has a crack in it” hides BAT + H, which is BATH. Nearly four in ten Rush hidden words use one word whole, so never skip the little ones.
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Just one letter from the left
“The sky turned a deep inky blue at sunset” hides P + INK, which is PINK. At Rush’s hardest level, more than half the hidden words start with the last letter of a word. It’s the easiest letter to read past.
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It won’t sound like the word
“We had a picnic at our local park.” Say “at our” and you’ll never hear tour, but T + OUR spells TOUR. Read the letters on the page, not the sounds in your head.
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Three letters isn’t enough
Wrong answers often hide a three-letter word to tempt you. In “Half our class went on the trip”, went on hides TON. It’s real, but too short. Half our hides FOUR.
Chapter 4: In the exam
What changes in the exam.
Most papers ask it as Rush does, with five pairs to pick from instead of four. Some change the rules, so read the instructions first.
No answers to pick from: write the word
Some papers give only the sentence, and you write the hidden word yourself. With no pairs to choose from, check every gap, starting from the left.
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Example
The duck swam over to us.
The duck gives THED, HEDU and EDUC. Duck swam gives UCKS, CKSW and KSWA. At swam over, WAMO and AMOV aren’t words, but M + OVE makes MOVE. Write MOVE.
Other ways the exam asks it
- Another length. Check how many letters the instructions ask for. A five-letter word has four ways across each gap, not three.
- Across three words. A few papers let the word run over a little word in the middle: “pass me a towel” hides ME + A + T, which is MEAT. When the answers are pairs, as in Rush, it’s always just two words.
- Names don’t count. A name hiding across a gap is never the answer. It has to be an ordinary word.
Chapter 5
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Find the gap in each answer.
- Slide four letters across the gap.
- Stop at a real four-letter word.
Remember: Every gap, three ways.
For parents.
What parents ask us about hidden words.
Questions parents ask
Is there a list of hidden words my child can learn?
Not one worth learning. The hidden words are ordinary four-letter words your child already knows, like REST, TOUR, DREW, GATE and MICE. What's missing is the habit of looking across the space, so practise checking across each space instead of learning a list.
Why does my child find hidden words hard when they read well?
Fluent readers take in whole words at a glance, and this question asks them to switch that off. They have to look at the letters on each side of a space as if the space wasn't there. Pointing at each gap with a finger helps break the habit.
Can the hidden word stretch across three words?
Not in Rush, or in papers where the answers are pairs of words: it always uses the end of one word and the start of the very next one. A short word can be used whole, as in at our hiding TOUR. A few other papers let it run over a little word in the middle, so pass me a towel hides MEAT.
Does the meaning of the sentence help?
No. The sentence is only there to hold the letters, so don't spend time on what it says.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise hidden words in Rush.
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