Sample Word Meaning Questions

These questions are designed to measure your vocabulary, specifically your understanding of word meanings. To achieve this, the questions focus on the relationships between words and the questions are phrased such that you need to know the precise meaning of the words given, in order to select the correct answer. These types of question appear in all levels of verbal ability tests.

These questions often use synonyms and antonyms (words which have either the same or opposite meanings), dictionary definitions and word pairs. Another type of word meaning question uses words which sound similar but have different meanings. These are called homophones and an example would be the words 'allude’ and ‘elude’. ‘Allude’ means ‘referred’ and ‘elude’ means ‘escaped from’. Once again, the test designer needs to choose common homophones which are in regular use and this leaves a relatively restricted list to choose from.

Sample Word Meaning Questions

1) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - outcome

2) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - comprise

3) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - energize

4) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - populated

5) Which word does not have a similar meaning to - condemn

6) Which word means - tuneful; compatible; marked by agreement

7) Which word means - with passionate or intense feelings

8) Which word means - to accumulate; to gather

9) Which word means - unjustifiably malicious; immoral; unmanageable

10) Which word means - continuous; eternal; never ceasing

11) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - perplex

12) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - contradict

13) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - argumentative

14) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - expedite

15) Choose the word most similar in meaning to - condescend

16) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - fecund

17) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - tawdry

18) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - pragmatic

19) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - absolve

20) Choose the word most nearly opposite in meaning to - exigent

Answer to sample verbal comprehension questions.

Improving your performance on these word meaning questions is straightforward. The sample word meaning tests on this website contains the most commonly used words for this type of test. If you work through these test papers then you will have a list of words that you need to learn the precise meaning of.

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