Verbal Analogies test online: find the missing word
Work out how 2 words are linked, then pick the word that gives a second pair the same link. 25 analogies, 4 choices each, no time limit.
Start the Verbal Analogies testAfter analogy 25 your score appears and you can keep it with a free account.
How it works
3 practice analogies, then 25 scored ones. You set the pace, so allow about 5 minutes.
- 1 · Practice
3 to warm up
Short, easy analogies. After each one the screen shows for 2 seconds whether you were right, or which word was.
- 2 · Each analogy
Name the link
You see the first pair and the start of the second: A is to B, as C is to. Work out how A leads to B before you look at the answers.
- 3 · Then
Choose the fourth word
4 single words sit below as buttons. Click or tap the one that stands to C as B stands to A. The next analogy follows at once.
- 4 · 25 analogies
5 levels of 5
A 3-second countdown starts the scored items. The first ones use everyday words and plain links; the last 5 turn on abstract ideas.
The instructions walk through a worked example first, and the opening screen has a button that reads them aloud. The scored items give no feedback; a counter and a bar along the top show how far along you are.
The links vary from item to item: opposites, part and whole, what something does, where something belongs, who makes what. Part of the work is noticing which kind of link a pair uses before you go looking for a match.
Analogies have been used to study reasoning as well as to test it. Robert Sternberg's 1977 book on intelligence and information processing is built around analogical reasoning.
What it measures
Every item has 2 halves: spot the relation in the first pair, then apply it to the second. Both halves have to work for the answer to be right.
Relational reasoning
- Inferring the link between A and B, which is often one of several links you could name.
- Mapping that link onto C and keeping it in mind while you scan the 4 options.
- Turning down options that relate to C in some other way, the usual decoy in each item.
Knowledge it needs
- Vocabulary: you can only map a link between words you know, and the later items use less common ones.
- General knowledge of how things work, where they belong and who makes them.
- Reading in English, since every pair and option is written.
Analogies sit between the 2 kinds of ability Horn and Cattell (1967) described: fluid reasoning, used on new problems, and crystallized knowledge, built through learning. A wrong answer can come from either side, a word you did not know or a link you did not see, and the score alone cannot tell which.
Because the items are written, reading load matters. Writing about children aged 8 to 12, Monte-Tablada and colleagues (2026) note that children with learning difficulties may do less well on written verbal analogies because of the reading involved, and they used an analogy test in a non-verbal format to take that load away.
Verbal reasoning items are also given online at a very large scale. The public-domain International Cognitive Ability Resource has collected verbal reasoning answers from about 97,000 people aged 14 to 90 (Condon and Revelle, 2014). The 25 items here are this site's own and do not come from that set.
A test, not a diagnosis.
One score on 25 written analogies is a snapshot. It cannot diagnose a learning, language or reasoning condition, or rule one out.
What you get
The score appears the moment analogy 25 is answered.
On the result screen
- Analogies correct out of 25, and your accuracy as a percentage.
- A headline reading from that accuracy, with cut-offs at 80% and 50%.
- Accuracy for each level of 5, from basic to abstract: the first 4 at a glance and all 5 in a breakdown table.
- 2 findings that change with your reading, such as how many of the 10 basic and familiar items you solved, and a CSV file of every answer and response time.
When you keep it
- Kept in your results with a free account and there whenever you sign in.
- Grouped with the other verbal comprehension tests, so it sits beside Vocabulary and Similarities.
- A next test is lined up as soon as you are done.
How this version is scored
For each analogy the test logs the option you chose, the keyed word and how long you took.
- Correct answer
- The option that stands to C as B stands to A. Choosing it earns 1 point; any other option earns 0.
- Score
- Correct answers out of 25. The 3 practice analogies are not scored.
- Accuracy
- Score divided by 25, rounded to a whole percentage. 80% or more, which is 20 correct, reads as strong verbal reasoning; 13 to 19 correct as moderate; 12 or fewer as a test that was hard across most levels.
- Levels
- Analogies 1 to 5 are labelled basic, 6 to 10 familiar, 11 to 15 intermediate, 16 to 20 complex and 21 to 25 abstract. Each level's accuracy is out of 5.
- Response time
- Saved in milliseconds for each analogy and included in the CSV. Speed does not enter the score.
Guessing. With 4 options, random picks would average about 6 correct out of 25. A score near that level says more about the attempt than about reasoning.
One best answer. Some options are linked to C in a looser way. The keyed word is the one that copies the A to B relation most closely, so an option that looks reasonable can still be marked wrong.
The same items every time. The 25 analogies and their options do not change between attempts, so a second run partly reflects memory of the first.
Before you start
Analogies reward a slow first look at each pair.
For a cleaner attempt
- Put the link into a short sentence before reading the options, for example "A is part of B".
- Test your pick against the first pair: does the same sentence work for both?
- Choose a quiet moment and finish all 25 in one sitting.
- Keep search engines closed, so the answers and the score are yours.
Interpret cautiously when
- English is a second language for you, or some words are unfamiliar for cultural reasons.
- Reading costs you extra effort, or you rely on reading support.
- You were tired, rushed or interrupted partway.
- You have done this test before, since the items repeat.
Questions
What do verbal analogies measure?
They measure reasoning about relationships between words: working out how 2 words are linked and finding a word that gives a second pair the same link. They also draw on vocabulary and general knowledge, because you can only see a link between words you know.
What is a good score on a verbal analogies test?
This test has no fixed pass mark. The result screen reads 20 or more correct out of 25 as strong, 13 to 19 as moderate and 12 or fewer as difficult across most levels. Random guessing averages about 6, and language background affects any verbal score.
How do you solve verbal analogies?
Name the relation in the first pair in a short sentence, such as "B is where A is kept" or "A is the opposite of B". Then try that sentence with C and each option, and pick the one where it fits best. If 2 options fit, make the sentence more precise.
Can I take the verbal analogies test on my phone?
Yes. The options are large buttons in a single column and no clock runs, so a phone is fine. Give yourself a few uninterrupted minutes, because reading each pair carefully counts for more than the device.
Sources
- Horn and Cattell (1967): Age differences in fluid and crystallized intelligence
- Sternberg (1977): Intelligence, Information Processing, and Analogical Reasoning
- Condon and Revelle (2014): The International Cognitive Ability Resource, a public-domain measure
- Monte-Tablada et al. (2026): The Spanish version of the computerized dynamic test of analogical reasoning