11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning: How to Spot the Odd One Out
By Simply Eleven Plus · Updated 25 October 2026 · 4 min read
In odd-one-out questions, your child sees five pictures and picks the one that doesn’t belong. The difficulty is that there is a lot to look at. A fixed checklist stops them staring at the pictures and hoping for inspiration.
The checklist
| Check | Ask yourself |
|---|---|
| Shape | Are the shapes the same type? Curved or straight sides? |
| Count | How many sides, lines, dots or small shapes? Odd or even? |
| Shading | Black, white, striped or dotted? Which way do the stripes go? |
| Size | Are some parts bigger or smaller? |
| Position | Where is the small shape: inside, outside, touching a corner or a side? |
| Direction | Which way do arrows or lines point? Is one a reflection rather than a rotation? |
| Lines | Solid or dashed? Thick or thin? |
How to use it
- Go through the checklist in order, one feature at a time.
- For each feature, check whether four pictures share something that the fifth doesn’t.
- Ignore features that change randomly across all five. They are there to distract you.
- When you find the odd one out, check it against all four others before moving on.
Example
Five shapes: a triangle with 3 dots, a square with 4 dots, a pentagon with 5 dots, a hexagon with 6 dots, and a square with 3 dots. The shading is different in every picture.
The shading changes randomly, so ignore it. In four pictures the number of dots matches the number of sides. In the last, a square has 3 dots.
Answer: the square with 3 dots
Common hidden rules
- The number of sides matches the number of small shapes.
- Four shapes are rotations of each other and one is a reflection.
- The shading of the small shape is the opposite of the large one.
- The total number of lines is the same in four pictures.
For the reflection trap, see our guide to rotations and reflections.
Practise it
The method only sticks with practice. Try Non-Verbal Reasoning questions on Simply Eleven Plus, free to start, with instant marking and an explanation for every answer, or sit a free live mock exam to practise under real exam conditions.
Free 11+ live mock exams
Let your child sit a real-time, timed mock paper online, then go through the trickiest questions together. It’s free.