Read and select shows you a set of written words and asks which are real English. The invented words are built to obey English spelling and sound patterns, so shape alone will not save you. This page trains the judgement you need and the restraint that keeps wrong selections down.
If you have genuinely read the word before, select it. If you are constructing an argument for why it might exist, that is usually a sign it does not. Arguments take time you do not have.
Non-words often carry a real suffix on an unreal stem. Ask whether you know any other word from the same stem: ‘credible’ brings credit, credited, incredible; a stem with no family behind it is suspect.
Selecting everything guarantees you catch every real word and also every non-word, and the task is scored on both. Select only what you recognise.
Give each word the same short look. Candidates who stall on one doubtful word run out of time and miss three easy ones further down.
Between now and test day, read something in English daily and note any word you half-recognise. Half-recognition is exactly the state this task punishes, and passive reading fixes it faster than word lists.
Non-words are often a real word with one letter changed. Skimming the shape of a word is how ‘obtusive’ gets selected. Give every word a full left-to-right pass, however short it is.
A real ending on an invented stem is the commonest trick. Strip -ible, -ment, -ous or -ate and ask whether what is left is a word you know. If the stem means nothing to you, the whole thing probably means nothing.
Genuine recognition usually comes with a context: a textbook, a news headline, a film subtitle. If no context comes with the word at all, that is useful evidence against it.
The task expects errors at the edges of your vocabulary — that is how it finds your level. Making a decision and moving on is worth far more than protecting a perfect record.
Not thisSelecting ‘obtusive’ because ‘obtrusive’ exists.
ThisRejecting ‘obtusive’ and selecting ‘obtrusive’ when it appears.
Non-words are frequently one letter away from a real word. Read the whole word, not its silhouette.
Not thisSelecting every word on the screen to be safe.
ThisSelecting only the words you recognise.
The task counts wrong selections as well as missed words, so an all-in strategy tells the test nothing except that you were guessing.
Not thisRejecting ‘maritime’ because it looks unusual.
ThisSelecting ‘maritime’.
Over-caution costs as much as over-clicking. Low-frequency words are exactly what the harder screens are made of.
Not thisSpending fifteen seconds on one doubtful word.
ThisMaking a decision within about two seconds and moving on.
The screen is timed as a whole. Time spent deliberating is taken from words you would have known instantly.
Not thisSelecting a word because it exists in your first language.
ThisSelecting a word because you have met it in English.
Cognates are used against you. ‘Actual’, ‘sensible’ and ‘librarian’ all look like Spanish or French words with different meanings, and invented words are built from the same instinct.
Not thisSelecting ‘mundify’ because it has a real-looking ending.
ThisChecking whether the stem belongs to a family you know.
A real suffix proves nothing. Ask what ‘mund-’ means to you before the ending persuades you.
Not thisTreating the last words on a screen carelessly because time is short.
ThisKeeping the same rhythm from the first word to the last.
Every word on the screen counts the same, so a rushed final third undoes the care you took at the start.
40 original questions. The first 10 are open to everyone. Answers are checked in your browser and never sent to us, so you can share this page with a class as it is.
2Complete the real English word.
5Complete the real English word.
7Complete the real English word.
8You see a word you half-recognise and the clock is running. Describe the rule you will follow, in one sentence.
One good answer
If I can name another word from the same family, or remember where I read it, I select it; if I am only arguing that it could exist, I leave it and move on within two seconds.
10Complete the real English word.
12Complete the real English word.
14Complete the real English word.
16Write two real English words beginning with ‘per-’ and one invented word that obeys English spelling rules. Say which is which.
One good answer
Real: persuade, permanent. Invented: perlantic — it looks English because per- is a real prefix and -antic is a real ending, but no word family sits behind the stem.
17Complete the real English word.
21Complete the real English word.
23Complete the real English word.
25Complete the real English word.
27Complete the real English word.
28The word ‘spectiment’ appears on the screen. Explain in one sentence how you would decide against selecting it.
One good answer
I strip the -ment ending and ask what ‘specti-’ gives me: spectator, spectacle and inspect all exist, but none of them produces ‘spectiment’, and I cannot remember reading the word anywhere, so I leave it.
30Complete the real English word.
32Complete the real English word.
34Complete the real English word.
36Describe the two-second rule you will use on test day, and say what happens when a word fails it.
One good answer
I give every word one left-to-right read of about two seconds. If recognition arrives in that time I select it; if I am still reasoning about whether it could exist, I leave it unselected and move straight on.
37Complete the real English word.
Note
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Neither. The task looks at both the real words you select and the non-words you select, so guessing in either direction pushes your result down. Select what you actually recognise.
Read English every day and write down words you half-know. Half-recognition is what this task punishes, and a fortnight of daily reading with a notebook shifts more words into certainty than a word list does.
No. They are invented strings built to look and sound plausible in English. There is no meaning to work out, only a recognition judgement to make.
Because they are built from real English prefixes, stems and endings. That is the point of the task: it separates people who have read the words from people who have learned the patterns.
The test is adaptive, so strong performance brings lower-frequency words. Seeing words you have only half met is a sign you are doing well, not a sign something has gone wrong.
Be careful with them. Words that look like your language are sometimes real English with a different meaning, and sometimes invented. Ask whether you have seen the word in an English sentence, not whether it feels familiar.