Odd one out
All the words but one share something, and you find the one that doesn't belong. Here's how to spot it every time.
Chapter 1
What are odd one out questions?
You get a row of words. All but one of them share something. You find the one that doesn’t belong.
Nobody tells you what the link is. Finding it is the whole question.
The question. Which word is the odd one out?
The words. Four in Rush, with one odd. Five in the exam, often with two odd.
The link. Never given. Three words share it, and the odd one doesn’t.
Rush’s Odd One Out game also asks it the other way round: which word goes with these three? That’s chapter 4.
Which word is the odd one out?
- Option 1: penguin
- Option 2: emu
- Option 3: eagle
- Option 4: ostrich
A Verbal question from Rush, level 1.
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Things of one kind
Three are the same kind of thing, like animals, jobs or weather. Rain, snow and hail fall from the sky as weather. The moon doesn’t.
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Words that mean the same
Three mean nearly the same, and the odd one often means the opposite. Most of Rush’s harder questions are this kind.
Chapter 2
Solve it in 3 steps.
Here’s the question, one step at a time.
The question
Which word is the odd one out?
- Option 1: penguin
- Option 2: emu
- Option 3: eagle
- Option 4: ostrich
A Verbal question from Rush, level 1.
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Step 1
Name the group.
Say what the words share as a sentence: they’re all birds. True, but it fits all four, so it can’t pick one out. It’s too wide.
Fits all four: too wide.
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Step 2
Narrow it down.
Zoom in on the birds. What can three of them not do? Penguins, emus and ostriches can’t fly.
Three in, one out.
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Step 3
Test every word.
Check your sentence on each word in turn. Exactly one word should fail it. The eagle can fly, so it’s the one left out.
The two mistakes it sets
| The mistake | Do this instead |
|---|---|
| Picking one that’s special in its own way. Only the penguin swims with its wings. The ostrich is the biggest bird in the world. Every word is special somehow. | Find what three share. The answer is the word your group leaves out. |
| Picking the word you don’t know. If you’ve never met an emu, it feels odd. It’s a big Australian bird that can’t fly. | Use the words you know. Penguins and ostriches can’t fly but eagles can, so the emu must go with them. |
So it’s eagle. Penguins, emus and ostriches can’t fly. The eagle is the only one that can.
Remember: Name it, narrow it, test it.
Chapter 3
The catches.
Harder questions use these to make a wrong word look right, or a right one look wrong.
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A family inside a family
All the same kind? Look for a smaller family.
Lemons, limes and grapefruit are citrus fruits, like oranges. A pear isn’t. Trap: “they’re all fruit” is true of all four.
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Nearly the same isn’t the same
Say what each word means, exactly.
Delighted, thrilled and overjoyed mean very happy. Relieved means glad a worry is over. Trap: all four are about feeling good.
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It goes with one, but it isn’t one
Going with the group isn’t being in it.
Hospital, school and library are places, and a nurse is a person. Trap: a nurse works in a hospital, so it seems to fit.
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A word with two meanings
If a word seems odd, try its other meaning.
Swift means fast, but a swift is also a bird. So robin, swift and wren are birds, and the plane is odd. Trap: picking swift because it means fast.
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Sounds the same, means something else
Read every letter. Go by meaning, not sound.
Accept and except sound nearly the same, but except means “but not”, as in everyone except me. Trap: reading it as accept.
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Right meaning, wrong kind of word
Meaning fits all four? Check the kind of word.
Happy, glad and cheerful are describing words: a happy girl. Joy is a naming word: you can’t say “a joy girl”. Trap: checking only the meaning.
Families worth knowing
Easier questions often turn on facts like these. Know them and the group jumps out.
- spidersnot insects: 8 legs
- whales, batsmammals
- frogs, newtsamphibians
- snakes, tortoisesreptiles
- trumpet, tubabrass
- violin, harpstrings
- lamb, foal, calfbaby animals
- cube, sphere3D shapes
Chapter 4
Which word goes with these three?
Rush’s Odd One Out asks it the other way round too. You name the group the same way, then find the option that joins it.
The question, from RushWhich word goes with these three? mad, furious, fumingThe options: livid, calm, crazy, curious
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Step 1
Name the group.
Say what the three share. Mad, furious and fuming all mean very angry. The answer must mean that too.
The answer has to join this group.
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Step 2
Cross out the traps.
Calm is the opposite. Crazy is mad’s other meaning, not angry. Curious only looks like furious. Livid is left, and it means very angry.
Even if livid is new to you, it’s the only one left.
So it’s livid. Mad, furious, fuming and livid all mean very angry.
Remember: Name the group, cross out the traps.
Chapter 5: In the exam
Odd two out of five.
Exam papers often give five words and ask for the two that don’t belong. Rush asks for one, which builds speed, and the same steps work.
The questionFind the two words that don’t belong with the others. stroll, sprint, wander, dash, amble
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Step 1
Find the three first.
They’re all ways of moving on foot, which fits all five. Narrow it: stroll, wander and amble mean walk in no hurry.
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Step 2
Check the two left make a pair.
Sprint and dash both mean run fast. In the real papers the two odd words almost always go together like this, so a pair left over tells you you’re right. Mark both.
The odd two are a pair of their own.
So it’s sprint and dash. Stroll, wander and amble are slow walks. Sprint and dash are fast runs.
Remember: Find the three. Mark the two.
Other ways the exam asks it
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A pair that goes together
Two that go together are usually the odd two.
Salt and pepper look like a group, but a group needs three. Apple, pear and plum are the three. Trap: marking one of the pair and one fruit.
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A less common meaning
No group of three? Try each word’s other meaning.
A sharp or bright pupil is clever, so clever, sharp and bright are the three. Round and square are the odd two. Trap: reading bright as shiny.
Chapter 6
Try it yourself.
Six real questions from Rush, easy to hard, 60 seconds on the clock.
Use the steps
- Name the group.
- Narrow it down.
- Test every word.
Remember: Name it, narrow it, test it.
For parents.
What parents ask us about odd one out.
Questions parents ask
How do you do odd one out questions in verbal reasoning?
Say what three of the words have in common as one sentence, then check it leaves exactly one word out. If it fits all of them, narrow it. On harder questions, define every word precisely, because the odd one is usually close in meaning to the rest.
What if two different answers seem to work?
Then at least one of the groups is too loose. Say both sentences and test every word against each. A well-made question has one group that fits its three words exactly; the other usually needs a bit of stretching to work.
Is it odd one out or odd two out in the real test?
Both appear on 11+ papers. Odd two out uses the same skill with one extra step, shown in the section above.
Does general knowledge matter?
On the easier questions, yes. Groups often rest on facts: spiders aren't insects, whales and bats are mammals, penguins and ostriches are birds. Knowing the main animal families, fruit and vegetables, and kinds of instrument makes those questions quick.
What if my child doesn't know one of the words?
Put it to one side and find the tightest link among the three they know. If it takes in all three, the unknown word is the odd one. If it takes in only two, the third known word is the answer, and the unknown word belongs with the pair. In oak, elm, ash and tulip, a child who has never heard of elm can still see that oak and ash are trees and tulip isn't.
Rush: 11+ Practice & KS2 SATsPractise odd one out in Rush.
- Odd One Out as 100-second games, easy at first and harder as your child improves
- Every miss kept with the right answer and why
- Odd One Out is in Premium, and six other games are free
On the App Store for iPhone and iPad
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