Missing Letters takes a small three-letter word and steals it out of the middle of a longer word, leaving a gap your child has to fill. In the sentence "The FER milked the cows at dawn", the answer is ARM: drop it back in and FER becomes FARMER. The twist GL builds in is that the three stolen letters must themselves spell a real word, so your child is solving two puzzles at once.
This is one of the word-completion types in the GL Assessment 11+ Verbal Reasoning paper. GL does not publish how many appear, but our research estimate is a block of roughly five to ten when the type is included. It is multiple choice with five options (A to E) on a separate answer sheet, and on PrepStep the question is wrapped in a short sentence so the surrounding meaning helps confirm the right longer word.
Each question explains how the chosen three letters rebuild the longer word and why that little word is genuine in its own right. That trains the two-part check at the heart of the type: the completed word must be real, and so must the three letters you put back.
Missing Letters questions vary by where the gap sits in the longer word and how common both words are. GL does not publish a breakdown, so the spread below is our research estimate:
Difficulty grows from short, common words with an obvious gap up to longer, less familiar words where the stolen letters land in the middle and the option set is full of near-identical three-letter words.
This family ignores meaning completely and works on letters. Hidden words find a word buried across two others, compound words join two words into one, move a letter shifts a single letter between words, missing letters restore letters taken out, and shared letter finds one letter that completes several words.
| Question type | What it tests | What it looks like | The classic mix-up |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missing LettersThis page | Restoring three letters taken from a word, where the three removed letters also spell a small word. | A word with three letters removed and shown as a gap; those three letters must spell a word too. For example, "___SNIP" becomes "PARSNIP", where the missing letters spell "PAR". | Treating it like hidden words and scanning across two words, when the missing letters come out of one single word. |
| Hidden Words | Whether your child can find a small word hidden across the join between two side-by-side words. | A full sentence; the hidden word, usually four letters, straddles the end of one word and the start of the next. For example: "She left the plate amid the mess". | Treating it like missing letters and looking inside one word, instead of across the join between two neighbouring words. |
| Compound Words | Whether your child can join one whole word to another to make a single, real compound word. | Two groups of words; your child takes one from each so they join into one real word, left word first. For example, "grape" plus "fruit" makes "grapefruit". | Treating it like hidden words and searching for a buried word, instead of joining two whole words openly given. |
| Move a Letter | Whether your child can move one letter from one word to another so both become new, real words. | Two real words; take one letter out of the first and add it to the second so both stay real. For example, "place" and "at" become "lace" and "pat". | Treating it like missing letters and moving three letters, when only one letter may cross between the two words. |
| Shared Letter | Whether your child can find one letter that sits at the join of two word parts and completes four words at once. | Two pairs of word parts, each with a bracketed gap; one single letter ends the left part and begins the right part, making four real words. For example, "CA(?)EN" and "BU(?)ANK" both take "T", giving CAT and TEN, then BUT and TANK. | Treating it like missing letters and looking for three letters, when only one letter is shared across every word. |
Ask what the letters are doing. One letter jumping between two words is move a letter, one letter completing four word parts is shared letter, whole words joining is compound words, a word buried in a sentence is hidden words, and letters put back into a single word is missing letters.
Five questions drawn from PrepStep’s missing letters bank, spanning Foundation to Challenging. Tap “Show worked explanation” to see the full method after you’ve had a go. The correct answer is highlighted on each question so you can check immediately.
Three letters in a row have been taken out of the word in CAPITALS. Find the three-letter word that completes it so the sentence makes sense: "The shiny MAG on the fridge held up the drawing."
The answer is NET, a real word (used to catch fish or score a goal). Slot it onto MAG to make MAGNET, which held the drawing on the fridge. Always check both: the new word is real AND the three letters make a word. ✓
Three letters in a row have been taken out of the word in CAPITALS. Find the three-letter word that completes it so the sentence makes sense: "It took real CAGE for the young firefighter to run back into the burning house."
OUR rebuilds COURAGE — what it takes to run into a burning house. The trap is ORS, which rebuilds CORSAGE (a spray of flowers worn on clothes): it is a real word but ORS is not, and you do not need a corsage to enter a fire. ZIP, GUM and HUT rebuild nothing. ✓
Three letters in a row have been taken out of the word in CAPITALS. Find the three-letter word that completes it so the sentence makes sense: "The shop in Edinburgh sold woollen scarves and kilts in dozens of different TARS."
TAN rebuilds TARTANS — the checked woollen patterns. The trap is PON, which rebuilds TARPONS (large fish): a real word, but PON is not, and a shop sells tartan scarves, not tarpons. WIG, BOG and CAP rebuild nothing. ✓
Three letters in a row have been taken out of the word in CAPITALS. Find the three-letter word that completes it so the sentence makes sense: "Last spring my grandad PLED two long rows of runner beans behind the shed."
ANT rebuilds PLANTED — beans are planted in rows. The trap is EAS, which rebuilds PLEASED: that is a real word but EAS is not, and you cannot 'please' rows of beans. RAN, FOG and DOT rebuild nothing. ✓
Three letters in a row have been taken out of the word in CAPITALS. Find the three-letter word that completes it so the sentence makes sense: "From the bridge Tom watched the MARS dart and swoop high above the slow river, snapping up insects on the wing all evening."
TIN rebuilds MARTINS — small birds that swoop over water catching insects on the wing, which fits the river and the snapping up of insects. TEN rebuilds MARTENS, but martens are ground-living animals that cannot swoop above a river. LIN rebuilds MARLINS, which are large sea fish, not river insect-eaters. ROW rebuilds MARROWS, which are vegetables and cannot fly. ELF rebuilds no word. ✓
Common mistake 1 of 4
Picking three letters that rebuild the long word but are not a real word themselves.
Tip: Both halves of the puzzle must hold. The three letters you insert have to spell a genuine word on their own, not just patch the gap. Teach your child to confirm the little word is real before accepting it.
Common mistake 2 of 4
Choosing a real three-letter word that does not complete a real longer word.
Tip: The reverse trap: an option like CAT is obviously a word, but it may not rebuild anything sensible. Remind your child to slot the letters in and read the full longer word back to check it actually exists.
Common mistake 3 of 4
Being caught out by look-alike options.
Tip: GL clusters options such as APT, ART, ACT and ANT that differ by a single letter. Under time pressure these blur together. Encourage your child to test each candidate fully rather than settling on the one that looks roughly right.
Common mistake 4 of 4
Ignoring the sentence's meaning.
Tip: In the sentence version, the surrounding words are a clue, not decoration. A child who guesses purely from the letters may build a real word that makes no sense in context. Reading the finished sentence back confirms the answer fits.
Every PrepStep 11+ question is original, written to mirror the style and difficulty of the GL Assessment 11+ and grounded in a library of real past-paper patterns, with a worked explanation for each one. PrepStep is built by Ben Jackson, its founder and a parent who has taken one child through the 11+ with another preparing now. Last reviewed: August 2026.
It is a question where three letters in a row have been removed from a longer word, and your child finds the three-letter word that fits back in. For example, ARK rebuilds MARKET from MET. The clever part is that the three missing letters must spell a real word on their own, so two conditions have to be met at once.
Through multiple choice with five options (A to E) marked on a separate answer sheet. The options are three-letter words, and on PrepStep the gapped word sits inside a short sentence so the meaning helps your child confirm the intended longer word. Only one option both is a real word and rebuilds a real longer word.
They can be taken from the beginning, the middle or the end of the longer word. The middle position is the most common and usually the hardest, because the gap is less obvious than at the edges. Recognising that the stolen letters can sit anywhere stops a child fixating only on the start of the word.
Missing Letters removes three consecutive letters that themselves form a word. That is distinct from Shared Letter, which inserts a single letter to complete two pairs of words, and from Move a Letter, which transfers one letter between two existing words. Knowing which type is in front of them helps a child apply the right method quickly.
The most reliable habit is the two-part check: confirm the completed longer word is real and that the three inserted letters also spell a word, then read the sentence back to be sure it makes sense. Wider reading expands the longer words a child recognises instantly. Free PrepStep practice offers graded sentence-based questions with worked explanations that model both checks.
They all work on letters rather than meaning, but the letters do different jobs. Hidden words asks your child to find a small word buried across the join between two words in a sentence. Compound words asks them to join two whole words into one real word. Missing letters asks them to restore letters taken out of a single word, where those removed letters also spell a word of their own. Same skill family, three different letter puzzles.
Explore the other GL Assessment verbal reasoning topics, each with free sample questions and worked explanations.
PrepStep has 150 missing letters questions in GL Assessment format: five options, instant feedback, and step-by-step explanations. Free to start.
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