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Why Word Questions Are Free Marks
Many mental-ability questions are not about numbers at all; they are about words. You are given a few words and asked to put them in dictionary order, or a single word and asked how many letters keep their place when the letters are sorted, how many different words its letters can make, or what rank it would hold in a dictionary of those words.
These four tools look different but share one idea: letters have a fixed order from A to Z, and you compare them one position at a time. Once you learn the comparison habit, each question takes under 30 seconds.
This short covers the four tools in the order exams use them: dictionary order, same-position letters, counting arrangements, and finding the rank of a word. Each comes with a worked example you can copy.
1. Which word comes third when PLATE, PLAY, PLAIN and PLANT are arranged in dictionary order?
2. Which word comes first in dictionary order?
3. How many letters in the word BRIGHT remain at the same position when the letters are arranged alphabetically?
4. How many different arrangements can be made from the letters of the word LEVEL?
5. If all arrangements of the letters A, B and C are written in dictionary order, what is the rank of CAB?
6. Arrange in a meaningful order: 1. Seed 2. Fruit 3. Flower 4. Plant 5. Sapling
7. How many different arrangements can be made from the letters of the word TEACHER?
8. A teacher arranges name cards alphabetically: ASHA, ASMA, ASIF, ANAND, ARUN. Which card comes fourth?