11 plus Idioms and Phrase Meaning questions

What an Idioms and Phrase Meaning question looks like

Idioms and Phrase Meaning is one of the vocabulary formats in 11 plus English. Each question gives a single sentence with a figurative phrase inside it, then asks what that phrase means, and offers five possible meanings. Its nearest neighbour asks a child to name the technique a writer has used; this one never asks for a label, and the answer is always a meaning written out in plain words.

Two quite different kinds of phrase come up. The first is sayings that exist outside the sentence and have to be met somewhere before: spill the beans, cold feet, bury the hatchet, at sixes and sevens, plus proverbs such as actions speak louder than words. The second is figurative writing invented for that one sentence, which no dictionary lists: a heart of stone, a memory like a sieve, guilt gnawed at him, the deadline loomed, a bitter peace. Those cannot be learnt in advance, only worked out, and they are the ones eleven plus comprehension papers lean on hardest.

In both kinds the phrase is printed inside the sentence as well as quoted in the question, so there is always context to reason from.

Example one

“The girl was so excited about the surprise party that she nearly spilt the beans in front of her brother.” What does the phrase “spilt the beans” mean?

Start with what is happening. There is a surprise party, the brother is not supposed to know about it, and the girl is excited. Now ask what she nearly did. She nearly let the secret out. Say that in your own words first, then look for the option that matches: revealed a secret by mistake.

The option that catches children is “knocked a tin of beans onto the floor”. It is what the words say at face value, and nothing in the sentence is about tins of beans at all.

Example two

“Trying the steepest path on his new bike without a helmet, the cyclist came a cropper at the very first sharp turn.” What does the phrase “came a cropper” mean?

This one cannot be worked out from the words, so use the sentence. Steepest path, no helmet, first sharp turn: something went wrong, and it went wrong suddenly. The answer is took a sudden tumble or failure.

The tempting option here is “narrowly avoided a nasty accident”. It fits the risky setting and sounds sensible, but it points the wrong way: the cyclist did not escape the crash, he had it. Getting the direction of a phrase right matters as much as getting the topic right.

Example three

“Her early experiments filled a single notebook, and several careers afterwards, once other scientists read what she had written.” What does the phrase “filled a single notebook, and several careers afterwards” mean?

Nobody has heard this phrase before, because it was written for this sentence. Notice that “filled” is doing two jobs at once: it fills a real notebook, and it fills other people’s careers, which is not something you can fill in that way. The second use has to be figurative. The meaning is that the research fitted in one book but went on to shape many later jobs.

The tempting option is “the writing took up one notebook and the spare notebooks of her colleagues”, which keeps both halves literal. The clue against it ends the sentence: other scientists read what she wrote, which is influence, not borrowed stationery.

How to answer it

1. Read the whole sentence before the question. The people in it, what they did and how it turned out are the evidence, and the phrase on its own is rarely enough.
2. Say what the phrase means in your own words before you look at any option. Children who read the five options first tend to pick the one that sounds most like the sentence rather than the one that means the same.
3. Cross out the option that just repeats the words at face value. There is nearly always one, and it is never right.
4. Check the options left over for strength and direction. Is this a small problem or a serious one? Did it happen or was it avoided? Wrong options are usually right in topic and wrong in one of those two ways.
5. Put your chosen meaning back into the sentence in place of the phrase. If the sentence still makes sense and still says the same thing, you have it.

Common mistakes

• Taking the words at face value. A tin of beans on the floor, a sharp tool hidden in the garden, a will printed on a sheet of iron, a fish stranded on dry land. These options are put there for children who answer from the words instead of the sentence.
• Getting the direction wrong. Missing the boat is letting a chance go by, not being turned down after trying for it. Jumping on the bandwagon is joining once something is popular, not racing to be first. Both wrong versions read perfectly well.
• Getting the strength wrong. Being in hot water is real trouble, not mild embarrassment. Raining cats and dogs is a downpour, not a drizzle. At sixes and sevens is genuine disorder, not running a few minutes late.
• Choosing an option that is true of the sentence but is not the phrase. Of a shopkeeper with eyes that missed nothing, “keeps a careful note of every visitor” sounds right about her, but the phrase means she notices every detail. The question asks about the phrase, not the person.
• Turning one situation into a general rule. A heading about a cheap purchase that proved expensive means that this thing looked cheap and cost a lot, not that every bargain always does.

How to practise 11 plus Idioms and Phrase Meaning questions

Reading feeds this question type, because the well-known sayings are picked up from stories rather than lists, and the invented phrases are simply what good writing does. Talking helps as much as testing: when a phrase turns up in a book or at the table, ask your child what it means and then what the words would mean if you believed them. When they get one wrong, do not start with the right answer. Ask what was happening to the person in the sentence, and the meaning usually arrives on its own. Ten focused minutes beats an occasional long session, which is the pattern we set out in how much 11 plus practice a child needs each day. 11+ Daily has an Idioms and Phrase Meaning project alongside the other English formats, on laptop, tablet or phone, and the full set is listed on our 11 plus English practice page. Every question is original to 11+ Daily, nothing is a past paper and nothing is licensed from another publisher, and the bank is re-checked in rounds.

Questions parents ask