English Language | Questions
Word Swap questions with solutions
Word Swap is a English Language topic for competitive exams. It appears across bank and railway exams. This page has 9 solved word swap questions written to the official pattern, with a worked solution under each.
- Question 1Moderate
Two words must be interchanged to correct the sentence: "She placed the book carefully on shelf the." Which two words should be swapped?
- A.she and book
- B.No swap needed
- C.carefully and on
- D.shelf and theCorrect
- E.placed and book
Show solution
The ending should be "on the shelf", so "shelf" and "the" must be interchanged.
- Question 2Moderate
In the sentence below, two highlighted words must be interchanged to make it meaningful. Identify them. The government has (A) raised the deadline for filing (B) returns and (C) extended the (D) penalty for late payment.
- A.A and CCorrect
- B.A and D
- C.B and C
- D.B and D
- E.C and D
Show solution
A deadline is extended and a penalty is raised, so the sentence as written has the two verbs the wrong way round. Interchanging A and C gives 'has extended the deadline for filing returns and raised the penalty for late payment', which is meaningful throughout. The nouns at B and D are correctly placed, so swapping either of them only makes matters worse. In this question type, find the pair of words that are the same part of speech and read each collocation aloud, since the error is nearly always a verb attached to the wrong noun.
- Question 3Moderate
In the sentence, two words must be interchanged to make it correct: "The manager quickly the reviewed report before the meeting." Which two words should be swapped?
- A.reviewed and meeting
- B.quickly and reviewedCorrect
- C.No swap needed
- D.the and before
- E.manager and report
Show solution
It should read "the manager reviewed the report quickly", so "quickly" and "reviewed" must be interchanged.
- Question 4Moderate
In the sentence 'The scientist discovered a new theory and proposed a rare element', two words are misplaced. Which pair should be interchanged to correct it?
- A.theory and elementCorrect
- B.scientist and theory
- C.new and rare
- D.discovered and proposed
Show solution
One discovers an element and proposes a theory, not the other way round. Swapping 'theory' and 'element' gives 'discovered a new element and proposed a rare theory', which is correct.
- Question 5Hard
In the sentence below, two words are in the wrong places. Choose the pair that must be swapped to correct it. To reduce pollution, the city decided to increase the number of private vehicles and reduce public transport.
- A.pollution and city
- B.increase and reduceCorrect
- C.private and public
- D.vehicles and transport
- E.No swap needed
Show solution
To reduce pollution a city would reduce private vehicles and increase public transport, but the sentence reverses the two verbs. Swapping 'increase' and 'reduce' restores the intended meaning.
- Question 6Hard
Interchange two words to correct the sentence: "Despite the rain heavy, the match continued without interruption." Which two words should be swapped?
- A.rain and heavyCorrect
- B.continued and without
- C.No swap needed
- D.despite and match
- E.the and match
Show solution
The phrase should be "the heavy rain", so "rain" and "heavy" must be interchanged.
- Question 7Hard
To make the sentence meaningful, interchange two words: "The scientist the results published after verifying them thoroughly." Which two should be swapped?
- A.the and them
- B.after and thoroughly
- C.results and publishedCorrect
- D.scientist and results
- E.No swap needed
Show solution
It should read "the scientist published the results after verifying them thoroughly", so "results" and "published" swap.
- Question 8Hard
In the sentence below, two words are in the wrong places. Choose the pair that must be swapped to correct it. The bank decided to freeze the account after it detected several suspicious withdrawals from the same fraudulent device.
- A.freeze and detected
- B.suspicious and fraudulentCorrect
- C.account and device
- D.freeze and withdrawals
- E.No swap needed
Show solution
It is the withdrawals that are 'suspicious' and the device that is 'fraudulent', but the sentence attaches the adjectives the other way round. Swapping 'suspicious' and 'fraudulent' gives 'several fraudulent withdrawals from the same suspicious device', which reads correctly.
- Question 9Hard
In the sentence below, two highlighted words must be interchanged to make it meaningful. Identify them. The survey (A) concluded that awareness of the scheme was (B) negligible in districts where field staff had been (C) appointed, and (D) widespread where no such appointment was made.
- A.A and C
- B.A and D
- C.B and C
- D.B and DCorrect
- E.C and D
Show solution
As written the sentence says awareness was negligible where staff had been appointed and widespread where they had not, which reverses the only sensible relationship between the two halves. Interchanging B and D repairs it: awareness was widespread where field staff had been appointed and negligible where no appointment was made. A and C are correctly used and are different parts of speech from the words that need moving. The signal here is a sentence whose two halves contradict what the rest of it implies, rather than a phrase that sounds odd on its own.
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Frequently asked questions
How many Word Swap questions are here?
This page shows 9 worked word swap questions from a bank of 9, spanning 0 easy, 4 moderate and 5 hard. The full set is available to attempt in the timed-free practice drills and the mock tests.
Which exams ask Word Swap questions?
Word Swap is a standard English Language topic across bank and railway recruitment exams.
Are these Word Swap questions free, and are the answers reliable?
Yes. Every question is free, written in-house to the exam pattern rather than copied from a real paper, and the numeric answer keys are recomputed independently at build time — a wrong key fails the build rather than reaching you.