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Playbook

Idioms and Phrases

86 q, 85 unique idioms. The literal-meaning option is almost always a wrong choice — the figurative reading is the answer.

questions in the bank
86
tagged HARD
3%
subtopic(s) covered
1
worked examples
2

When you’ll see it

A common English idiom in the stem; pick its figurative meaning from 4 options.

How this question type works

86 q over 10 years, 85 unique idioms (only 'sit on the fence' has been tested twice). So the prep target is 'recognise the canon of ~200 widely-used English idioms', not 'memorise the 85 already-tested ones' — they won't repeat.

Group idioms by image: animal idioms (a bag of bones, dark horse, hold your horses), body-part idioms (bite your tongue, show your hand, by hook or by crook), colour idioms (yellow journalism, white lie, in the red), weather idioms (in the eye of the storm, a fair-weather friend), money idioms (be in the red, break the bank). Image-grouping retrieves much faster than alphabetical lists.

The 2026 paper introduced a multi-statement variant — 4 idiom-meaning pairs, identify how many are correctly matched. Same recall skill, doubled per question. Worth specifically practising because the wrong-match option is engineered to swap two adjacent idioms in the list.

The sub-skills

The rules and habits that decide whether you get this question right.

  • Figurative-first reading

    On an idiom, the literal interpretation is almost always a wrong option. 'cry over spilt milk' is not about milk; it's about regretting irreversible past actions.

  • Theme grouping (animal/body/colour/weather/money)

    Cluster idioms by visual theme. Retrieval is faster — if the stem mentions a colour, your brain reaches into the colour-idiom bucket first.

  • Multi-statement variant

    Read each pair independently. The trap is a mid-list correct match flanked by two wrong ones — the count-correct framing makes it easy to overcount.

2 worked examples from the bank

Real past-year questions tagged to this playbook. Click to reveal options + solution.

Example 1Idioms and PhrasesEASY
Directions (Q. Nos. 21 to 25): Given below are some idioms/phrases followed by four alternatives to each. Select the most appropriate alternative which gives the correct meaning of the idiom/phrase and mark your response on the Answer Sheet accordingly.
'A piece of cake'

[Q25 · Apr · 2026]

Example 2Idioms and PhrasesHARD
Read the following pairs: Idiom/Phrase | Meaning I. Have one foot in the grave | To be in the last stage of life II. Get your feet wet | Establish yourself securely in an establishment III. Follow suit | Correctly conform to another's action Identify the pair(s) wherein the meaning is correctly stated.

[Q48 · Apr · 2026]

Traps to expect

Distractor shapes specific to this playbook. The page-wide Traps section covers the bank-level patterns.

  • Literal meaning

    Almost always one of the 4 options. 'spill the beans' offered as 'drop food'. Reject these reflexively.

  • Adjacent-figurative

    An option that's a different idiom's meaning. 'bite your tongue' (stay silent) vs 'hold your tongue' (also silent) vs 'tongue-tied' (unable to speak) — overlapping but distinct.

Drill every idioms and phrases question

86 questions from the bank, scoped to the named subtopic.

Drill the 86 questions

Related playbooks

Often paired with this one — drill these next if you found the worked examples above tractable.