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Non-Verbal Reasoning · Guide 1 of 8

Odd one out

Four pictures share a rule and one doesn't. Find what the four have in common, and the odd one out jumps out.

  • Ages 9 to 11
  • 11+ Non-Verbal Reasoning
  • Worked examples

What is it?

You are shown five pictures (sometimes four). All but one follow the same rule. Your job is to find the one that breaks it.

The pictures usually differ in lots of ways on purpose. Most of those differences are distractors: only one feature makes the odd one out different from all the others.

Which is the odd one out?

A
B
C
D
E

How to spot it

  • The question says 'Which is the odd one out?' or 'Which is most unlike the others?'.
  • There's a row of pictures labelled a to e, with no arrows or grids.

Step-by-step method

  1. Step 1: Go through a checklist, one feature at a time: shape, number of sides, size, shading, number of items, lines, direction, position.
  2. Step 2: For each feature, ask: do four pictures match and one not?
  3. Step 3: If every picture is different for a feature (five different shapes), that feature is a distractor. Move on.
  4. Step 4: Once you find a rule, check it carefully on all five pictures.
  5. Step 5: Look closely at small details: a line that's dashed, a dot on the wrong side, an arrow pointing the other way.

Worked examples

Example 1: shading

Question: Which is the odd one out? (the five shapes above)
  1. Step 1: Shape: circle, square, triangle, pentagon, hexagon. All different, so shape is a distractor.
  2. Step 2: Shading: A, C, D and E are black. B is white.

Answer: B, the only shape that isn't shaded

Example 2: number of sides

Question: Which is the odd one out?
A
B
C
D
E
  1. Step 1: Shading: all white. No help.
  2. Step 2: Count the sides: A 4, B 4, C 3, D 4, E 4.

Answer: C, the only shape with three sides

Example 3: count the items inside

Question: Which is the odd one out?
A
B
C
D
E
  1. Step 1: Outside shapes and sizes are mixed: square, circle, square, hexagon, circle. These are distractors.
  2. Step 2: Count the dots: 3, 3, 4, 3, 3.

Answer: C, which has four dots instead of three

Common traps

  • Choosing the first difference you notice

    A shape can look different without being the odd one out. The rule must make four the same and only one different.

  • Being fooled by size or position

    Questions often change size, position or rotation on purpose. Check whether those really split one from four.

  • Not counting carefully

    Count sides, dots and lines with your pencil tip. It's easy to miss one.

Top tips

  • Say the checklist in your head: 'shape, size, shading, number, lines, direction, position'.
  • If two rules seem to work, look again: one of them probably fits more than one picture.

Practice questions

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