Look for the rule that fits every word but one, and try sound or spelling when meaning won't split them.
Practice test 1 is free. No card needed.
Odd one out questions give a group of words, and your child finds the rule that fits all but one of them. Children in Year 7 now sit Verbal Reasoning in Year 8, in June 2027 Expected.
Checked by the SelectiveReady team on 12 October 2026 · Updated 27 October 2026 · How we check facts
Independent. Not affiliated with the Victorian Department of Education or ACER.
It gives a short list of words and asks which one doesn't belong. ACER says Verbal Reasoning tests thinking and reasoning with words, concepts and logic, and odd one out is the concepts part: sorting words and naming the rule that holds a group together.
These are our own questions, from easier to harder. In each list of four, the right rule fits three words exactly and leaves out just the odd one. Each one shows the answer and the working, so read them together and say each rule aloud.
Which word is the odd one out?
Answer: C
Answer: C
Look for a group that fits three words exactly. Kangaroos, wombats and koalas are all mammals that carry their young in a pouch. An emu is a bird, so it is the odd one out. All four are Australian animals, so that group does not separate them.
Which word is the odd one out?
Answer: B
Answer: B
All four are bodies of water, so look for a closer link. A river, a creek and a stream all flow along a channel, but a lake is water that stays in one place, so B is the odd one out. Size is tempting, but a creek and a stream are both small, so size does not pick out one word.
Which word is the odd one out?
Answer: C
Answer: C
Meaning splits these two and two (two animals, two other things), so it can't pick out one word; listen to the sounds instead. Salmon (l), autumn (n) and column (n) each have a letter you don't say. Every letter in heron is sounded. The trap is picking by meaning or spelling, which always leaves a second word just as odd.
Ask your child which word looked odd at first, and test that rule on every word together. A rule that fits too many words, or too few, shows up straight away.
Keep trying rules until one fits every word but the odd one. This works because a wrong rule always gives itself away: it fits all of the words, or it leaves out more than one. It's our method, not ACER's.
Look for a rule that fits all the words except one.
All bodies of water, all Australian animals: a rule that fits every word is too broad. Look for something finer.
When meaning splits the words into pairs, try sound, spelling or letters instead.
Say the rule aloud and test each word against it. If two words fail, the rule is wrong.
Verbal Reasoning shares 55 minutes with Reading, so don't let one list eat the clock. If no rule works, ACER suggests your child make an informed guess and come back to it at the end if there is time.
Each wrong option in our questions rewards a rule that is nearly right. After the worked questions, go through these together and ask which one would have caught your child. The check is always the same: does the rule leave out exactly the odd word?
Sorting games cost nothing and fit into any spare moment. Ask for a reason every time.
ACER says these skills grow over time, through a culture of learning, varied engaging material and talking freely about ideas, and these games are exactly that kind of talk. Our worked questions show the method; a full practice test shows whether your child can still find rules quickly with Reading on the same clock.
More worked questions are on our selective entry verbal reasoning sample questions page. Our selective entry practice tests keep the real timing, and Practice test 1 is free. The results by skill then show which kinds cost the most marks.
Practice test 1 marks every answer and shows results by skill: what your child already does well and the three skills to work on next.
Practise for the real test
Practice test 1 is free. Then packs from A$109 for 12 months, or A$9 a week, per exam.