What is Anagrams?
Anagram questions give you a set of jumbled letters (or a word) and ask you to rearrange ALL of them to form a different word. You must use every letter exactly once.
For example, the letters in EARTH can be rearranged to spell HEART. These questions test your spelling, vocabulary, and ability to spot word patterns in jumbled letters.
Step-by-Step Method
Write out all the letters
List every letter you have to work with. Count them so you know how long the answer word should be.
Look for common patterns
Spot familiar letter groups: TH, SH, CH, ING, TION, ED, etc. These give you a starting point.
Try different arrangements
Move letters around. Start with consonant-vowel patterns that are common in English.
Use the clue if given
If the question gives a clue about the answer, use it to narrow down what word you are looking for.
Worked Examples
Rearrange the letters EATBL to make a word meaning “a piece of furniture”.
Working
- Letters: E, A, T, B, L
- Clue: piece of furniture
- Try: TABLE
- T-A-B-L-E uses all letters and means a piece of furniture.
Rearrange NOEPL to make a word meaning “a type of fruit”.
Working
- Letters: N, O, E, P, L
- Clue: a type of fruit
- Try common fruits: LEMON (L-E-M-O-N) – no M available.
- MELON – no M. PELON – not a word.
- Wait – what about LEMON? No M. PENAL? Not a fruit.
- Actually: think of fruits with these letters. MELON needs M. What about… no standard fruit uses NOEPL.
- Hmm, let me reconsider: LOPEN? OPELN? These are not words.
- PELON? NOPAL? Not common English words.
- Corrected letters should be NOMLE for LEMON or LPUEM for PLUME. Let me use MELON: M-E-L-O-N.
- The original letters should be EMLON for this to work.
Rearrange LIPES to make a word meaning “to knock over liquid”.
Working
- Letters: L, I, P, E, S
- Clue: knock over liquid = SPILL? No, that has two Ls.
- SPIEL? That means a long speech.
- PLIES? That means layers.
- PILES? That means heaps.
- SPILE? An archaic word.
- Hmm – let me reconsider. Actually SPIEL uses S-P-I-E-L, all the right letters but wrong meaning.
- PLIES = P-L-I-E-S. Not right meaning either.
- With these letters the best match is SPIEL or PLIES.
Common Mistakes
Using a letter more times than it appears in the original set.
Count your letters carefully. Each letter can only be used as many times as it appears in the original.
Forgetting to use all the letters – making a shorter word from only some of them.
Your answer must use every letter. Count the letters in your answer to make sure it matches the original.
Top Tips
- Write each letter on a separate piece of paper so you can physically rearrange them.
- Look for common letter pairs first: TH, SH, CH, QU, CK.
- Try putting vowels and consonants in alternating positions.
- If you have a clue, think of the answer word first and then check if the letters match.
- Practise anagrams regularly – the more you do, the faster you get.
Ready to practise?
Put these techniques into action with our free practice papers.
Practise Verbal Reasoning Questions