30 Verbal Reasoning questions — Part 1: 15 synonym, Part 2: 15 sentence completion — in the ISEE's own four-option format. Every answer is explained, and every question links to its word's full study page.
Note: The real ISEE Primary Level (for applicants to grades 2–4) is Auditory Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and a writing sample — it has no Verbal Reasoning section, so the real Primary-level test never asks a synonym or sentence-completion question. This practice test borrows that question style from the Lower/Middle/Upper Verbal Reasoning format purely to help younger students build vocabulary early, ahead of the level where it is actually tested that way.
Choose the best synonym for the word “unexpectedly”:
B — suddenly. “unexpectedly” means adv. in a way that was not expected. Study “unexpectedly” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “badger”:
A — mammal. “badger” means n. a burrowing animal with a broad back and thick fur. Study “badger” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “provider”:
C — supplier. “provider” means n. a person or thing that supplies something. Study “provider” →
Select the best synonym for the word “represent”:
A — symbolize. “represent” means v. to act or speak for someone or something. Study “represent” →
Select the best synonym for the word “remorseful”:
D — regretful. “remorseful” means adj. filled with regret or guilt. Study “remorseful” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “gifted”:
D — talented. “gifted” means adj. having exceptional talent or natural ability. Study “gifted” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “used”:
D — secondhand. “used” means adj. not new; having been used before. Study “used” →
Select the best synonym for the word “distrustful”:
C — suspicious. “distrustful” means adj. feeling or showing distrust of someone or something. Study “distrustful” →
Select the best synonym for the word “pretense”:
B — facade. “pretense” means n. a false reason or explanation. Study “pretense” →
Select the best synonym for the word “inferential”:
B — deductive. “inferential” means adj. relating to or involving inference. Study “inferential” →
Select the best synonym for the word “tiredness”:
A — fatigue. “tiredness” means n. the state of being tired. Study “tiredness” →
Select the best synonym for the word “original”:
A — authentic. “original” means adj. existing from the beginning; n. the first form of something. Study “original” →
Select the best synonym for the word “sharp”:
A — keen. “sharp” means adj. having a thin edge or point that can cut. Study “sharp” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “bone”:
A — skeleton. “bone” means n. the hard parts inside a body that make up the skeleton. Study “bone” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “rot”:
C — decay. “rot” means v. to decay or decompose. Study “rot” →
They agreed to ______ at the corner coffee shop right after work.
A — meet. “meet” means v. to come together with someone. Study “meet” →
Bright stars slowly began to ______ in the darkening evening sky.
D — appear. “appear” means v. to become visible. Study “appear” →
It was very ______ of him to spread the cruel rumor about his rival.
A — spiteful. “spiteful” means adj. showing a desire to harm or annoy. Study “spiteful” →
It was a truly ______ idea to try to fly across town using an umbrella.
B — ridiculous. “ridiculous” means adj. very silly or unreasonable. Study “ridiculous” →
The ______ new engine could easily pull a hundred heavy railway cars.
A — powerful. “powerful” means adj. having great strength or influence. Study “powerful” →
This new little car uses ______ fuel than the old one ever did.
C — less. “less” means adj. a smaller amount of; not as much. Study “less” →
After the long hike, he had a huge ______ and ate two whole dinners.
A — appetite. “appetite” means n. a natural desire to satisfy a bodily need, especially for food. Study “appetite” →
At this very high ______, the air is thin and it is hard to breathe.
B — elevation. “elevation” means n. height above a given level. Study “elevation” →
The wool sweater will ______ if you carelessly wash it in very hot water.
B — shrink. “shrink” means v. to become smaller in size. Study “shrink” →
The two proud knights prepared to ______ for the honor of the kingdom.
C — fight. “fight” means v. to use physical force to try to defeat someone. Study “fight” →
After many months of training, her arms grew much ______ than before.
B — stronger. “stronger” means adj. more strong. Study “stronger” →
The teacher asked her to ______ all the countries in Europe one by one.
C — enumerate. “enumerate” means v. to list things one by one. Study “enumerate” →
The ______ design of the new electric car surprised everyone at the show.
D — innovative. “innovative” means adj. introducing new ideas or methods. Study “innovative” →
Without any real clues, she could only ______ where the treasure was hidden.
A — guess. “guess” means v. to form an opinion or give an answer about something when you do not know much about it. Study “guess” →
The artist painted a beautiful ______ of the smiling, gray-haired old woman.
C — portrait. “portrait” means n. a painting, drawing, or photograph of a person. Study “portrait” →
Score:
Every question below is now marked up: the correct answer is highlighted in red, and any option you picked that was wrong is highlighted in blue.
No. These are original synonym and sentence-completion questions written from the iSEE Vocab word bank, in the ISEE's own four-option Verbal Reasoning format. No retired or copyrighted ISEE/SSAT questions appear anywhere on this site.
The real ISEE Primary Level (for applicants to grades 2–4) is Auditory Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, Mathematics and a writing sample — it has no Verbal Reasoning section, so the real Primary-level test never asks a synonym or sentence-completion question. This practice test borrows that question style from the Lower/Middle/Upper Verbal Reasoning format purely to help younger students build vocabulary early, ahead of the level where it is actually tested that way.
30 — Part 1 is 15 synonym questions, Part 2 is 15 sentence-completion questions, the same roughly-even split the real ISEE Verbal Reasoning section uses.
No. Every Primary Level practice test on this site draws from a disjoint slice of the word bank, so Test 1, Test 2 and every other numbered test at this level use entirely different questions.
Yes. The ISEE gives no penalty for a wrong answer — a blank scores the same as a wrong guess, which is zero — so answer every question even when you have to guess.