Verbal Analogy — reasoning with words, not just knowing them
A verbal analogy is a relationship between one pair of words applied to another — the classic "A is to B as C is to ?" format. Verbal analogy skill is the ability to identify how words relate and to select the word that completes the parallel relationship. It draws on two things at once: vocabulary, because you must know the words, and abstract reasoning, because you must isolate the relationship that connects them. LEVO measures verbal analogy as the language-based section of its two full-length IQ tests and trains it with a dedicated category in your daily training program.
What it is
Solving a verbal analogy is a two-step act of abstraction. First you extract the relationship from the given pair — cause and effect, part and whole, degree, opposition, function, category — and then you apply that same relationship to a new starting word to find its partner. Vocabulary is the entry ticket: you can't map a relationship between words you don't know. But the skill being scored is the mapping itself, which is why analogies have such a long history in intelligence testing — they make relational reasoning visible in a single line of text.
Verbal Analogy is the one language-based section in LEVO's full-length tests, balancing the visual and numeric material, and it gives your skill radar its verbal axis. Distractor options typically share a surface association with the prompt; the correct answer shares its structure. Choosing structure over association is the skill.
How LEVO measures it
- IQ Test 1 — 8 verbal analogy questions (the one language-based section).
- Post-training IQ test — 8 questions, separate question set.
- Tests 3–5 do not include this category (matrix-only).
How LEVO trains it
One of the seven daily training categories: 6 verbal analogy questions per daily session, drawn from a practice pool of 112 exercises — one of the two largest pools in the program — with feedback after every answer. Daily analogy practice builds the practiced skill: spotting relationships between words quickly and precisely. The vocabulary you meet along the way is a side benefit, not a promise.
Related brain games
Two word games practice the vocabulary side of this skill — they support it, while the daily training category is the direct analogy practice:
Questions & answers
What is a verbal analogy?
A verbal analogy states that two words relate in the same way as two other words — "A is to B as C is to ?". Answering one means identifying the relationship in the first pair and applying it to complete the second. LEVO's IQ tests include an 8-question verbal analogy section, and the daily training program includes it as one of seven categories.
Do verbal analogies test vocabulary or logic?
Both, deliberately. You need vocabulary to understand the words, and abstract reasoning to isolate the relationship connecting them. The scored skill is the relational reasoning — wrong options usually share a loose association with the prompt, while the right one shares its exact relationship.
How does LEVO train verbal analogy skills?
Every daily training session includes 6 verbal analogy questions from a 112-exercise practice pool, with feedback after each answer. Two word games in the library — Word Hunt and Crossword — add vocabulary and word-fluency practice on the side.
Measure your verbal analogy.
Take the baseline test, train it daily, and retest to see what changed for you.
Start with the test