Analogy
About 6 min · Reasoning Ability and Problem Solving · English
Time worked out from the lesson's 311 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.
Analogy questions test your ability to identify logical relationships between pairs of items. In SSC MTS, you'll encounter three types: word analogies (meaning or category relationships), number analogies (mathematical patterns), and figural analogies (visual pattern recognition).
Key ideas
- Relationship identification is primary: The relationship between terms in the first pair must be precisely replicated in the second pair. Don't match surface similarities—match logical patterns.
- Word analogies follow semantic relationships: Common patterns include synonym pairs, antonym pairs, category-member (bird:sparrow), part-whole (wheel:car), tool-function (pen:write), and intensity variations (hot:scalding).
- Number analogies use mathematical operations: Look for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, squaring, cubing, prime numbers, differences, ratios, or positional digit patterns (sum of digits, product of digits).
- Figural analogies involve visual transformations: Elements may rotate clockwise/anticlockwise, reflect horizontally/vertically, increase/decrease in number, change position, or combine through overlap or removal.
- Multiple relationship layers: Some analogies combine two operations. For example, 3:10::4:17 involves both squaring and adding 1 (3²+1=10, 4²+1=17).
Quick reference
- First identify the relationship type precisely, then apply it—don't match terms superficially.
- Word analogies: synonym, antonym, part-whole, tool-function, category-member, degree, cause-effect.
- Number analogies: test simple operations first (±, ×, ÷, squares) before complex patterns.
- Figural analogies: check rotation, reflection, element count, position, and shading changes.
- Maintain consistency—same relationship type and direction in both pairs.
Check yourself: 3 questions
1. Select the option that is related to the third term in the same way as the second term is related to the first term. Doctor : Hospital :: Teacher : ?
2. Select the option that is related to the third word in the same way as the second word is related to the first word. Carpenter : Saw :: Farmer : ?
3. Select the option that is related to the third term in the same way as the second term is related to the first term. Doctor : Hospital :: Teacher : ?
This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 21 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.
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