How Wortanalogien work
The Bundeswehr names language first among what its computer test measures (“Sprachbeherrschung”, “sprachliches Denken”), and candidates report Wortanalogien as the German section, alongside spelling.
Each item gives a pair of words in a relationship and a third word. The relationship might be part and whole, tool and user, cause and effect, opposites or degree. You choose, from a list of options, the word that has the same relationship to the third word. The items are in German.
Like the rest of the CAT, the section is adaptive: right answers tend to bring rarer words and subtler relationships.
How to answer an analogy
Use one routine on every item:
- Before you read the options, put the first pair into one short sentence: “a thermometer measures temperature”.
- Put the third word into the same sentence: “a scale measures ...”.
- Pick the option that completes it, and check the direction. A is to B as C is to the answer, never the reverse.
- Be wary of the option that simply belongs near the third word. It is the usual trap.
- If two options fit, make your sentence more precise until only one does.
Worked example
Thermometer : temperature = scale : ? The options are weight, kitchen, number and heavy.
The sentence is “a thermometer measures temperature”, so “a scale measures weight”. Kitchen is the trap: it goes with scale but not in the same way. Heavy describes an amount of weight rather than the thing measured.
The same logic in German: Schlüssel : Schloss = Passwort : ? with Konto, Tastatur, Geheimnis and Zahl. A key opens a lock as a password opens an account, so the answer is Konto.
Tips for the real Wortanalogien
- Read widely in German before the test. The method transfers from English; the vocabulary does not.
- Learn the common relationship types by name so you can spot them fast: part and whole, function, cause and effect, opposite, degree, category and member.
- Do not dwell on a word you do not know. Use the relationship to rule options out, then choose and move on.
- Expect harder items if you are doing well. The test adapts, so finding it difficult is normal.
- Spelling (Rechtschreibung) is also reported in the language section, so revise common German spelling traps too.
Practise Wortanalogien on CogniPrep
Our Wortanalogien drill gives you 20 analogies with four options each on a 10-minute clock, in English with the German module name. It adapts over five levels, starting at level 3 and moving one level up or down with each answer. Items the clock cuts off count as wrong. Your score out of 100 reflects the level you hold in the second half of the run. The step rule, count and clock are ours; the Bundeswehr does not publish its own, and the real items are in German.