Reasoning topic

Word formation reasoning: letters, words and dictionary order

Word formation questions are about letters and words: rearranging letters, making words from a longer word, and dictionary order. Count the letters, and compare words one letter at a time. The SSC syllabus calls this word building.

What the question looks like

A typical question gives jumbled letters and asks which word they spell. Other questions ask which word can or cannot be made from the letters of a longer word, or which order words take in a dictionary.

The letters IUGTL can be rearranged to spell one meaningful English word. Which of these is that word?

  1. GUILT
  2. WHITE
  3. GIRLS
  4. VIGIL
Answer

GUILT

IUGTL uses G, U, I, L and T once each, and GUILT is the only option made of exactly those letters.

How it works

Rearranging: the word must use every given letter, each as many times as it is given.

Making a word from a longer word: count how many times each letter appears in the longer word. A word can be made only if it needs no letter more times than that.

Dictionary order: compare two words from the left, one letter at a time. The first letter where they differ decides. If every letter matches until one word runs out, that word comes first.

Some questions number letters by their place in the alphabet, A = 1 to Z = 26; others, like question 2 below, number them by their place in the list given.

Arrange these words in the order they would appear in a dictionary: 1. Might 2. Migrant 3. Mightier 4. Migration 5. Mighty. Which sequence is correct?

  1. All five start MIG. The fourth letters are H, R, H, R and H. H comes before R, so Might, Mightier and Mighty come before Migrant and Migration.
  2. Might, Mightier and Mighty all start MIGHT. Might runs out there, so it comes first. Then I against Y: Mightier comes before Mighty.
  3. Migrant and Migration share MIGRA. Then N against T: Migrant comes first.
  4. The order is Might, Mightier, Mighty, Migrant, Migration: 1, 3, 5, 2, 4.

Answer: 1, 3, 5, 2, 4

Try three

1. Which of these words CANNOT be formed using the letters of the word RESISTANCE?

  1. ARENA
  2. SENSE
  3. CASES
  4. TRAIN
Hint

Count each letter in RESISTANCE. Some appear twice, some once.

Answer

ARENA

RESISTANCE has E and S twice each, and R, I, T, A, N and C once each.

CASES needs S twice, SENSE needs S and E twice each, and TRAIN needs each of its letters once: all three can be made. ARENA needs A twice, and RESISTANCE has one A, so ARENA cannot be formed.

2. A number has been given to each of these letters: O = 1, T = 2, R = 3, M = 4, S = 5. Which arrangement of the numbers spells a meaningful English word?

  1. 5, 3, 1, 2, 4
  2. 2, 5, 1, 3, 4
  3. 5, 2, 1, 3, 4
  4. 5, 2, 1, 4, 3
Hint

Which word can the letters O, T, R, M and S make?

Answer

5, 2, 1, 3, 4

The letters O, T, R, M and S make STORM: S 5, T 2, O 1, R 3, M 4. The arrangement is 5, 2, 1, 3, 4.

3. The letters KHTNI can be rearranged to spell one meaningful English word. Which letter sits second from the right in that word?

  1. T
  2. I
  3. N
  4. K
Hint

Make the word first, then count from its right end.

Answer

N

KHTNI makes THINK. Counting from the right, K is 1st and N is 2nd. The letter second from the right is N.

Word Formation in the app

Practise Word Formation in the app. The questions follow your level, and what you practise comes back just before you'd forget it.

Get started

The concepts behind it

In the official syllabus of

← All reasoning topics