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.
Select the best synonym for the word “fascinate”:
C — captivate. “fascinate” means v. to attract and hold the attention of someone. Study “fascinate” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “carve”:
C — sculpt. “carve” means v. to cut something into a shape. Study “carve” →
Select the best synonym for the word “extremely”:
B — exceedingly. “extremely” means adv. to a very great degree. Study “extremely” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “deed”:
B — act. “deed” means n. an action that is performed intentionally. Study “deed” →
Select the best synonym for the word “gift”:
B — present. “gift” means n. something given willingly to someone without payment; a present. Study “gift” →
Select the best synonym for the word “tactful”:
C — diplomatic. “tactful” means adj. having or showing sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues. Study “tactful” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “nomadic”:
A — wandering. “nomadic” means adj. moving from place to place without a permanent home. Study “nomadic” →
Select the best synonym for the word “toil”:
A — labor. “toil” means v. to work very hard for a long time. Study “toil” →
Select the best synonym for the word “dependable”:
C — reliable. “dependable” means adj. trustworthy and reliable. Study “dependable” →
Select the best synonym for the word “copy”:
A — duplicate. “copy” means v. to make something that is exactly like another thing; n. a thing made to be similar or identical to another. Study “copy” →
Select the best synonym for the word “miserable”:
A — wretched. “miserable” means adj. very unhappy or uncomfortable. Study “miserable” →
Select the best synonym for the word “unrealistic”:
C — impractical. “unrealistic” means adj. not seeing things as they are; impractical. Study “unrealistic” →
Select the best synonym for the word “instance”:
A — example. “instance” means n. an example or single occurrence of something. Study “instance” →
Choose the best synonym for the word “forceful”:
D — assertive. “forceful” means adj. strong and assertive. Study “forceful” →
Select the best synonym for the word “promise”:
D — vow. “promise” means v. to tell someone you will definitely do something. Study “promise” →
The ______ little puppy chewed up all of dad's best leather shoes.
D — naughty. “naughty” means adj. behaving badly or disobediently. Study “naughty” →
As a longtime ______ of the small town, she knew almost everyone there.
A — resident. “resident” means n. people who live in a particular place. Study “resident” →
After finishing high school, she went to ______ to study biology.
D — college. “college” means n. a school for higher education. Study “college” →
Through the thick fog, the ship appeared only ______ in the far distance.
C — indistinctly. “indistinctly” means adv. not clearly or sharply defined. Study “indistinctly” →
His ______ answer completely ignored all the hard parts of the problem.
D — simplistic. “simplistic” means adj. treating complex issues as if they were simple. Study “simplistic” →
A bright flash of lightning was quickly followed by a loud clap of ______.
B — thunder. “thunder” means n. the loud noise that follows a flash of lightning. Study “thunder” →
No one yet knew the full ______ of the damage caused by the storm.
B — extent. “extent” means n. the size or scale of something. Study “extent” →
The whole team happily shared the ______ for the great success of the show.
C — credit. “credit” means n. praise or recognition for something done. Study “credit” →
The hot afternoon sun burned the ______ on the back of his neck.
D — skin. “skin” means n. the outer covering of the body. Study “skin” →
The tiny careless mistake had a ______ effect on the whole experiment.
A — disastrous. “disastrous” means adj. causing great harm or damage. Study “disastrous” →
The guard grew ______ of the man who kept nervously looking over his shoulder.
A — suspicious. “suspicious” means adj. having or showing a cautious distrust. Study “suspicious” →
It is very hard to cross the wide desert ______ enough water to drink.
A — without. “without” means prep. not having or including something. Study “without” →
The ______ math problem took even the smartest students a whole hour.
D — tricky. “tricky” means adj. difficult to deal with or do. Study “tricky” →
The ______ meeting dragged on for nearly four long, boring hours.
D — lengthy. “lengthy” means adj. very long in time or size. Study “lengthy” →
The people marched in the streets demanding ______ for the wronged workers.
B — justice. “justice” means n. the quality of being fair and reasonable. Study “justice” →
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.