Test Your Word Power, Test Your Knowledge!

By William F. Bultas

See how many of these brain teasers you can solve. Puzzles 1-15 are analogies, & take the form of W is to X as Y is to Z, which is written as W : X :: Y : Z. Problems 16-25 are odd man out puzzles. Choose the word that does not belong with the others. For all of the puzzles, guess if you are not sure of the answer, & look for the best answer. When you're finished, you can rank yourself with the scale below. Feel free to add a few points to your score if your native language is not English, and/or if you are under age 18. You'll find the answers on this page. Work those verbal neurons, test your knowledge, & have fun!


Number Correct         Skill Ranking
 0-5                    Need Improvement 
 6-10                   Average 
11-15                   Above Average 
16-20                   Erudite 
21-25                   Professor of Knowledge

1. Zeno : Stoicism :: Muhammad :

Existentialism Islam Physiology Zymology Astrophysics

2. Ruth : 60 :: Maris :

61 62 63 64 65

3. tertiary : third :: feline :

sagacious cantankerous stealthy wealthy productive

4. Raymond : Flash Gordon :: Burroughs :

Mork Frodo Tarzan Skywalker Tarbosh

5. chic : fashionable :: chicanery :

hilarity servitude honesty propensity trickery

6. fortitude : endurance :: intransigence :

forthrightness obduracy temerity consideration voluptuousness

7. movable type : Gutenberg :: lightning rod :

Edison Roentgen Ellison Franklin Martin

8. curiosity : cat :: patience :

parlance important lengthy boring virtue

9. greenhouse : photoelectric :: Titanic :

Mamba Challenger Standard Gota Subway

10. Sarah : Abraham :: Guinevere :

Lancelot Gawain Luther Gallahad Arthur

11. corpulent : obese :: opulent :

silly optimistic wealthy watery immature

12. man : eunuch :: rooster :

capon eunuch renton eland bicker

13. Star Wars : Force :: Space Balls :

Force Schwartz TourDeForce Farce Energizer

14. stygian : celestial :: empiricism :

rationalism idealism existentialism Buddhism asceticism

15. aconite : wolfsbane :: aconite :

grailturn cornback tigerpaw seabrine monkshood

16. crestfallen kindred lugubrious melancholic dismal

17. raven jetty crow Cimmerian onyx

18. Bush Quayle Reagan Carter Clinton

19. Paleozoic Mesozoic Cenozoic Tageozoic

20. Maya Seminole Cherokee Blackfoot Delaware

21. rod volt yard foot inch

22. think dream thought emotion mind

23. water metal chain hydrogen frequency

24. ire umbrage peregrine rancor asperity

25. condense shrink cower retract flinch

ANSWERS