Hidden Words & Compound Words

In this lesson, you will learn about two fun and important question types: hidden words and compound words. Both require you to look carefully at how words are built and how letters fit together.

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Part 1: Hidden Words

What Is a Hidden Word Question?

In a hidden word question, a word is hiding inside a sentence or phrase. The letters of the hidden word span across two or more words in the sentence. You need to spot where the hidden word starts and ends.

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Worked Example 1

Question: Find the hidden animal in this sentence.

"I saw the rabbit on the hill."

Wait — that is too obvious. Let us try a proper hidden word:

"She came looking for a new table."

Step-by-step:

1. Read the sentence and look for a word hiding across word boundaries.
2. Look carefully: came looking — hidden word: melon? No, let us check: camel — yes! The word camel hides across "came looking".
3. Actually, look more carefully: "camelooking" — the letters c-a-m-e-l span "came" and "looking".
4. Answer: camel (an animal)

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Worked Example 2

Question: Find the hidden colour in this sentence.

"The children ran gently down the lane."

Step-by-step:

1. Look across word boundaries for a colour.
2. "ran gently" — the letters spell range. Not a colour.
3. Try: "ran gently" — wait, look again: "range" — still not a colour.
4. Actually: "ran gently" — orange! The letters o-r-a-n-g-e span across: no, that does not work either.
5. Let us look carefully at every boundary: "children ran gently" — no. "ran gently" — hmm, "range" contains the hidden colour orange? No.
6. Try a different approach: look letter by letter. "The children ran gently" — n, r, a, n, g, e — that is not quite right.
7. The answer is: "ran gently" hides the word green — wait, no. Let me re-examine: ran gently = r-a-n-g-e-n-t-l-y. Hidden word: range? Actually the hidden word here is not a colour.

Let me give you a cleaner example:

"Don't you wish I telephoned earlier?"

Step-by-step:

1. Look across word boundaries: "wish I telephoned" — no.
2. Try: "wish i telephoned" — hit? That is a word but not a colour.
3. Try: "telephoned" — hone? Still not a colour.
4. Try: "sh i te" — no.
5. The hidden word is: "wish i telephoned" — white! The letters w-h-i-t-e span across "wish i telephoned".

Answer: white

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Strategy for Hidden Words

Step 1: Read the sentence carefully.

Step 2: Run your finger (or eyes) slowly along the letters, crossing word boundaries.

Step 3: Try starting from different positions. The hidden word often straddles two or three words.

Step 4: Once you find a word, check it answers the question (is it an animal, a colour, a fruit, etc.?).

Top tip: The hidden word is almost always spread across at least two separate words in the sentence. It will not usually be a word that you can see standing on its own.

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Common Hidden Word Categories

In the exam, you might be asked to find:

• A colour (red, blue, green, white, orange, etc.)
• An animal (cat, dog, camel, ape, owl, etc.)
• A fruit (apple, pear, plum, fig, etc.)
• A number (one, two, ten, etc.)
• A body part (arm, leg, ear, hip, etc.)
• Just "a word" with a given number of letters

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More Worked Examples

Sentence	Hidden word	Category
"The spar row flew away."	sparrow	animal (but this is within one word)
"She put her orange in the bag."	hero	general word
"I be ar my friend no grudge."	bear	animal
"He b ought rim med glasses."	brim	general word
"She was car rying a pet."	carpet	general word

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Part 2: Compound Words

What Is a Compound Word?

A compound word is a word made by joining two smaller words together.