11-plus Verbal Reasoning | Complete the word, find missing word

Verbal Reasoning Quiz - Complete the Word 1 (Questions)

Complete the Word challenges you to find the missing word!

English abounds with three-letter animal names, and each of the sentences in these 11-plus verbal reasoning questions contains a word from which such a creature is missing. Your challenge is to pick which is the correct missing creature, each time!

For example, if the sentence said:

'Sadly, the pot-PL on my aunt's windowsill died during the hot weather' ...

... the missing 3 letters would be more likely to be ANT (making 'PLANT') than anything else on offer such as PIG.

Have a go at this quiz to get familiar with this type of question. Good luck!

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
There don't seem to be any more eggs in the KITC.

[ ]	EWE
[ ]	ANT
[ ]	HEN
[ ]	HOG

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
'And don't you ever dare come here again,' said the big man with a SL.

[ ]	DOG
[ ]	PIG
[ ]	COW
[ ]	HEN

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
... And when his mother asked him the question, he went as red as a TROOT.

[ ]	ANT
[ ]	BEE
[ ]	PIG
[ ]	COD

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
This process is far easier to deal with now that it's all been AUATED.

[ ]	DOG
[ ]	HEN
[ ]	TOM
[ ]	DOE

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
He was injured just after half-time, so the manager sent on a SUBSUTE for the rest of the match.

[ ]	OWL
[ ]	TIT
[ ]	BEE
[ ]	COD

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
The ground is now so sodden that everybody is PING the clouds will go away and the rain will stop.

[ ]	HEN
[ ]	COD
[ ]	RAY
[ ]	PIG

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
We never realised that they had ST so much money on the building.

[ ]	COB
[ ]	PEN
[ ]	HOG
[ ]	OWL

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
She finds her present job incredibly FRUSTING a lot of the time now.

[ ]	RAT
[ ]	COW
[ ]	DOG
[ ]	EWE

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
They say that the Second World War was shortened by about two years, thanks to the EBREAKERS in a top-secret centre who were able to read enemy messages by 'cracking' them with a powerful computer.

[ ]	CAT
[ ]	DOG
[ ]	PIG
[ ]	COD

10.

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
Back in the days of letterpress printing, pictures could be reproduced by engraving the image onto a smooth flat surface such as metal or wood: in the case of stone, the process was known as LITRAPHY.

[ ]	SOW
[ ]	COW
[ ]	HOG
[ ]	ANT

Verbal Reasoning Quiz - Complete the Word 1 (Answers)

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
There don't seem to be any more eggs in the KITC.

[ ]	EWE
[ ]	ANT
[x]	HEN
[ ]	HOG

(Where else but the kitcHEN?)

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
'And don't you ever dare come here again,' said the big man with a SL.

[ ]	DOG
[ ]	PIG
[x]	COW
[ ]	HEN

The correct word should be SCOWL

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
... And when his mother asked him the question, he went as red as a TROOT.

[ ]	ANT
[x]	BEE
[ ]	PIG
[ ]	COD

The BEE may be striped in black and yellow, but BEETROOT is (proverbially) deep red!

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
This process is far easier to deal with now that it's all been AUATED.

[ ]	DOG
[ ]	HEN
[x]	TOM
[ ]	DOE

A 'tom' is a male cat, and the process is now auTOMated

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
He was injured just after half-time, so the manager sent on a SUBSUTE for the rest of the match.

[ ]	OWL
[x]	TIT
[ ]	BEE
[ ]	COD

This little bird made all the difference to the subsTITute!

[ ]	HEN
[ ]	COD
[x]	RAY
[ ]	PIG

Surely, even people with little or no religion may find themselves pRAYing when there is a natural disaster like a flood.
Appropriately or otherwise, a RAY is a type of flatfish (quite apart from its other meanings)

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
We never realised that they had ST so much money on the building.

[ ]	COB
[x]	PEN
[ ]	HOG
[ ]	OWL

The key word here is sPENt : a pen (in this sense) is a grown-up swan

Pick the three-letter creature that would most sensibly complete the word in capitals in the sentence.
She finds her present job incredibly FRUSTING a lot of the time now.

[x]	RAT
[ ]	COW
[ ]	DOG
[ ]	EWE

The work seems to be frustRATing her.
Urban legend has it that (in Europe, at least) nobody is ever more than a few metres away from a rat!

[ ]	CAT
[ ]	DOG
[ ]	PIG
[x]	COD

Perhaps the CODebreakers were 'fishing' for information.
(Actually, the story of how Bletchley Park staff broke the German ENIGMA code is fascinating ... and if you're into Verbal Reasoning with all its coding exercises, this might be an interesting adventure for you to study in its own right!)

10.

[ ]	SOW
[ ]	COW
[x]	HOG
[ ]	ANT

The technical term is litHOGraphy (you may have recognised the '-graph/y' element from other kinds of image-making, such as photography - 'light-writing'). There's a pig (hog) in there, much as there are rats and ants inside several other names of activities and things!