Spatial Reasoning section
Odd One Out puzzles with answers
Six figures, one that breaks the rule. Ignore what varies on purpose and look for what five of them share.
Short answer
An odd one out puzzle shows six figures and asks which one does not belong. Five share a hidden rule, such as the number of straight sides or where a dot sits relative to two outlines, while size, angle and fill change freely to distract you. The figure that breaks the rule is the answer.
These are practice puzzles. The full test has Spatial Reasoning items like these, generated fresh for every attempt.
Try one
Plate 01 · Easy
Which one does not belong?
Tap the option you think is right, or show the answer.
Show the answer
Option 1 is the odd one out: it has five sides and the others have four.
How to solve it
- Ignore the fill and the tilt; count the straight sides of each figure.
- Five of the figures have four sides.
- Option 1 has five sides, so it does not belong.
This is Odd One Out puzzle #1 (easy). Every puzzle below works the same way: tap an option to check it, or open the answer for a step-by-step solution.
How these puzzles work
Odd one out puzzles are the other half of the Spatial Reasoning section on IQ Octopus. The engine uses two kinds. In side count puzzles, five figures have the same number of straight sides even though they are drawn at different sizes, angles and fills. In dot position puzzles, each figure has two overlapping outlines and a dot, and in five of them the dot sits in the same region: inside both, inside only the smaller, inside only the larger, or outside both.
The skill is deciding what to ignore. Size, tilt and fill are deliberately scattered so they cannot be the rule. Read the spatial reasoning guide for more on this kind of item.
A method that works on every one
- Ignore fill, size and tilt first; they vary on purpose.
- Count the straight sides of each figure.
- If the counts all match, look at where the dot sits relative to the outlines.
- Find the property five figures share, then the one that breaks it.
Easy puzzles
Easy puzzles use side counts: five figures share a number of sides and one has one more or one fewer. Most common rules in this set: side count (17).
Medium puzzles
Medium puzzles use the same side-count rule with a fresh set of figures; the rule changes at the hard level. Most common rules in this set: side count (17).
Hard puzzles
Hard puzzles use dot positions inside overlapping outlines, where you must check each region carefully. Most common rules in this set: dot position (16).
Want them timed? The odd one out practice test gives you 10 puzzles with 30 seconds each and an instant practice score.