What 11+ verbal reasoning actually tests
UK 11+ papers — CEM, GL and school-written papers alike — reward children who can move quickly between related meanings. A typical paper asks for the closest synonym, the odd word out, or the missing word in an analogy. That is vocabulary as reasoning, not as a list of definitions copied into an exercise book.
Parents often print huge word lists. The lists are not wrong; they are incomplete. A child can “know” abundant on a flashcard and still freeze when the paper asks for a partner of plentiful or the opposite of scarce. Wordera trains the links, not just the gloss.
How the Wordera 11+ pack works
Open the app, set 11+ as the goal, and the daily plan mixes three short jobs:
New words arrive as illustrated cards: part of speech, plain definition, example sentence, and a picture that makes the meaning stick.
Quick checks on recent and weak words, closer to synonym and sentence work than to “type the definition again”.
Games such as Word Weave and Sentence Builder pull from the active 11+ pack, so play is still exam practice.
Words worth illustrating for 11+
These are not a dictionary clone. They are the kind of ambitious but paper-real words that show up in verbal reasoning and comprehension, with a visual hook you can actually remember.
Showing great attention to detail. Picture a pupil checking every working in a right-bound notebook — that image is more useful in an analogy than a one-line gloss.
Not enough of something. Pair it with abundant and plentiful. The illustration of an almost-empty shelf beats another worksheet column.
To talk someone into a decision. 11+ papers love the family: persuade, convince, influence, deter.
Something that stands in the way. Useful in stories and in analogies (obstacle is to journey as delay is to timetable).
Unwilling, holding back. Opposite cluster: eager, keen, willing. Children confuse it with related-looking words unless they have seen it used.
To leave behind on purpose. Papers distinguish abandon, desert, forsake and simply “leave”.
A daily habit, not a weekend cram
Five to ten minutes is enough if the mix is right: a few new illustrated words, a short test on words that are due, and a game that reuses today’s list. Wordera builds that mix for you. There is no need to design a deck or guess which words are “due”.
The 11+ pack sits alongside other exam packs in the same app — useful if an older sibling is on IELTS or SAT — but the 11+ path stays focused on verbal-reasoning English for UK selective entrance.
Get the 11+ pack on iPhone
Download Wordera from the App Store, choose the 11+ exam pack, and start with today’s plan. Illustrated cards, timely review, and games from the same words.
Try the illustrated pack on iPhone
Wordera is on the App Store. Open a daily Learn / Test / Play plan and keep the words you actually need.