Word Analogy

Snapshot

• Verbal analogies ask you to find the pair that shares the same relationship as a given pair of words.
• The whole skill is naming the relationship in one precise sentence ("a glove is worn on a hand") and testing every option against that exact sentence, in the same direction.
• You will meet a small menu of formats (complete the pair, choose the matching pair, sentence analogy, odd pair out, letter and number analogy) built on about two dozen relationship types: synonym, antonym, part and whole, worker and tool, cause and effect, degree, and so on.
• Exam reality: +5 / −1. A loose bridge costs marks; a narrow bridge, the right order and a quick elimination of near-misses protect them.

Part 1 — What an analogy question really tests

Written and reviewed by Omveer Thakur, English & Languages faculty at UniDrill (M.A. English, University of Delhi · 9 years teaching). Prepared for the CUET UG English paper.

Look at Hand : Glove :: Foot : ? Nobody asks you what a hand or a glove is. The question asks how they are connected, and then asks you to find something connected in the same way to foot. The symbol : reads "is to" and :: reads "as". So the line says: "Hand is to glove as foot is to ___." The answer is sock, because a glove is worn on a hand and a sock is worn on a foot.

That is why analogy questions are really a test of two things at once: your vocabulary (do you know what each word means?) and your reasoning (can you state the link between two meanings exactly?). A student with a weaker vocabulary but a sharp habit of forming a bridge sentence often beats a student with a larger vocabulary who only "feels" that two words go together.

The formats you can expect are listed below. The skill is the same in all of them; only the packaging changes.

Everything below trains one routine: find the relationship, say it as a sentence, keep the order, test the options, and narrow the sentence if two options survive.

Part 2 — The relationship menu

An analogy is only as hard as the relationship behind it. If you can classify the relationship within a second, you already know what kind of option to hunt for. Learn this menu until the types feel familiar.

Two things about this menu matter for the exam. First, many pairs fit more than one row. Knife : Cut is object to function, but it is also a tool used by a worker (a cook). Your job is to pick the row that matches the other pair in the question, not to find a single correct classification in the abstract. Second, a relationship has a direction. Poet : Poem is creator to creation; Poem : Poet is the reverse. An option that has the right link but the wrong direction is wrong.

Part 3 — The 4-step method

Use the same four steps on every analogy, in this order.

One more habit saves marks. After picking an answer, read the whole analogy aloud once more in plain words: "Hand is to glove as foot is to sock." If the sentence sounds natural, you are done. If it sounds forced, you have probably flipped the order.

Pause and predict: What is wrong with the bridge "a carpenter and wood are connected" for the pair Carpenter : Wood?

Check your answer: It does not say how they are connected, so it cannot separate the options. A carpenter works on wood as a raw material. With that bridge, tailor : cloth fits and tailor : needle (a tool) does not.

Part 4 — Worked examples with reasoning

Each example shows the bridge, the check and the near-miss that the exam is likely to plant.

Example 1 — Glove : Hand :: Sock : ? Options: Shoe, Foot, Leg, Toe. Bridge: "A glove is worn on a hand." Transfer: "A sock is worn on a ___." Foot completes it. Shoe is tempting because it is also worn on the foot, but the pair needs a body part, as hand is. Answer: Foot.

Example 2 — Thermometer : Temperature :: Barometer : ? Options: Rain, Pressure, Wind, Heat. Bridge: "A thermometer measures temperature." A barometer measures atmospheric pressure. Rain and wind are weather items a barometer helps forecast, but it does not measure them. Answer: Pressure.

Example 3 — Bee : Hive :: Horse : ? Options: Stable, Field, Saddle, Rider. Bridge: "A bee lives in a hive" (animal and its home). A horse is housed in a stable. Field is where it may graze but is not its home; saddle and rider belong to a different link entirely. Answer: Stable.

Example 4 — Poet : Poem :: Architect : ? Options: Bricks, Building, Mason, Cement. Bridge: "A poet creates a poem" (creator to creation). An architect designs a building. Bricks and cement are materials, mason is a co-worker; none is the product. Answer: Building.

Example 5 — Virus : Disease :: Drought : ? Options: Rainfall, Famine, Irrigation, Summer. Bridge: "A virus causes a disease" (cause to effect). A drought can cause famine. Irrigation is a remedy, so the direction is wrong; summer is only a season. Answer: Famine.

Example 6 — Like : Adore :: Dislike : ? Options: Ignore, Detest, Love, Avoid. Bridge: "Adore is a much stronger form of like." The pair climbs from mild to strong in positive feeling. The matching pair climbs from mild to strong in negative feeling: dislike to detest. Love has the wrong sign; ignore and avoid are actions, not feelings. Answer: Detest.

Example 7 — Generous : Miserly :: Brave : ? Options: Valiant, Cowardly, Fearless, Bold. Bridge: "Miserly is the opposite of generous." The opposite of brave is cowardly. The other three are synonyms of brave, which is the classic trap in antonym analogies. Answer: Cowardly.

Example 8 — Ornithologist : Birds :: Cardiologist : ? Options: Lungs, Heart, Bones, Medicine. Bridge: "An ornithologist studies birds." A cardiologist deals with the heart (cardio- means heart). Lungs belong to a pulmonologist. Answer: Heart.

Example 9 — Fleet : Ships :: Bouquet : ? Options: Perfume, Garden, Flowers, Vase. Bridge: "A fleet is a group of ships" (collective noun). A bouquet is a bunch of flowers. A vase only holds a bouquet, which is a container link. Answer: Flowers.

Example 10 — Seed : Tree. Choose the pair with the same relationship: (A) Bird : Egg (B) Egg : Bird (C) Wing : Bird (D) Nest : Bird. Bridge: "A seed grows into a tree" (early stage to final form). An egg develops into a bird, so (B). Option (A) has the right words but reverses the order, which is the commonest trap in "choose the matching pair" questions. Answer: (B).

Example 11 — Carpenter : Wood :: Tailor : ? Options: Needle, Cloth, Shop, Scissors. Bridge: "A carpenter shapes wood (the raw material) into furniture." A tailor works on cloth. Needle and scissors are tools, which would match Carpenter : Saw, not Carpenter : Wood. Notice that the same worker can pair with a tool, a material, a product or a workplace; only the second word of the given pair tells you which. Answer: Cloth.

Example 12 — CAT : DBU :: DOG : ? Letter analogy. Compare the first pair letter by letter: C→D, A→B, T→U. Each letter moves one step forward. Apply the same rule to DOG: D→E, O→P, G→H. Answer: EPH.

Example 13 — 5 : 26 :: 6 : ? Number analogy. Test the simple rules in order. Adding a fixed number does not work with a single pair, since 21 has no pattern behind it. Is it a square plus one? 5² + 1 = 26, a clean fit. Apply it: 6² + 1 = 37. Answer: 37.

Example 14 — AZ : BY :: CX : ? Give each letter its position: A=1, Z=26; B=2, Y=25; C=3, X=24. The first letter moves forward one place each time while the second moves backward one place. The next pair is D=4 and W=23. Answer: DW.

Part 5 — Letter and number analogies

When the pair is made of letters or numbers, the link is a rule, not a meaning. Test the rules in this order and stop at the first that fits both given terms.

A caution: some number pairs fit two rules. For example 2 : 6 fits "multiply by three" and also "cube minus two", and the two rules give different next terms. The exam gives a second pair so that only one rule survives; always test your rule on both given pairs before applying it to the blank.

Part 6 — Common traps

Part 7 — Rapid-fire practice

Cover the answer and bridge columns, say your own bridge aloud, then check.

Part 8 — Timed practice routine

Analogies are among the fastest questions in a language section once the routine is automatic, so the training goal is speed with accuracy. Use this four-week plan.

On exam day, do not let one tied question eat your time. After you have narrowed your bridge twice and still have two options, eliminate the option with the weaker link, guess only if you can remove at least one option, and move on. With a −1 penalty, one clean elimination makes the guess worthwhile, while a blind guess does not.

Part 9 — Where this connects

Analogies reward exactly the same skills as the other vocabulary topics, so practise them side by side.

One-line revision: name the relationship in a precise sentence, keep the same order and direction, test every option against that sentence, and narrow the bridge until only one option fits.