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Coding decoding questions with answers

These coding decoding questions mix the two forms the exam actually sets: letter-shift codes, where a rule moves each letter a fixed distance, and message coding, where whole words map to symbols across several sentences. Every question is engine-minted with its answer validated against its own options, and each walkthrough is the solver's decoding, step by step.

Download the PDF — 15 questions with answers

Free, ungated, no email. This is the coding decoding questions with answers PDF — the same 15 questions as below, with every worked solution at the back, ready to print.

How to use this set

The 15 questions below are ordered the way an exam block is rather than easiest-first: two gentle openers, then a run of medium, and a hard one every sixth question — 2 of the 15 sit in the hard band. The set mixes coding-decoding (letter shift) and message coding-decoding, in the round-robin the paper itself sets rather than one form at a time.

Work each question on paper before you open its solution. The walkthrough is the method itself, step for step, so reading it first turns a practice set into a reading exercise and teaches nothing. If you are stuck on the method rather than on one question, the method guide is a better place to start than the next question: How to crack a coding decoding rule.

15 coding decoding questions with answers

Every question below was generated by the same engine that mints the DeducePuzzles daily puzzle round, and machine-checked before it reached this page — a multiple-choice question validates its own answer against its own options at generation, and ships only with a walkthrough attached. The walkthrough is the engine's own.

Question 1

In a certain code, "SUN" is written as "RTM". The code for a word is "ADC". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. BED
  2. OWL
  3. TEA
  4. BOX
  5. BAT
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "SUN" → "RTM": each letter shifts forward by 25 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "ADC" BACK by 25: A→B, D→E, C→D.
  3. So the original word is "BED".

Question 2

What is the code for "blue"?

"blue garden paper" is coded as "su ki ro".

"blue garden school" is coded as "ro du ki".

  1. ki
  2. la
  3. su
  4. mi
  5. to
Show the worked solution
  1. "blue" is a word that appears in BOTH statements, so its code must appear in both coded lines.
  2. Among the options, the only code that appears in both coded lines is "ki".
  3. So "blue" is coded "ki".

Question 3

If "ROSE" is written as "WTXJ" in a certain code, how is "DESK" written in that code?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to the target word.

  1. GHVN
  2. KLZR
  3. IJXP
  4. JKYQ
  5. HIWO
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "ROSE" → "WTXJ": each letter shifts forward by 5 (wrapping past Z).
  2. Apply the same +5 shift to "DESK": D→I, E→J, S→X, K→P.
  3. So "DESK" is written as "IJXP".

Question 4

Which word is coded as "du"?

"silver school market" is coded as "fi la pa".

"market silver blue garden" is coded as "za la mi fi".

"train silver market" is coded as "fi la du".

"garden train silver school" is coded as "pa du mi fi".

  1. silver
  2. market
  3. blue
  4. train
  5. garden
Show the worked solution
  1. The code "du" appears in the 3rd and 4th coded lines and in no other.
  2. The only word that appears in exactly the 3rd and 4th statements is "train" — every other word is either missing from one of those statements or also appears in another.
  3. So "du" stands for "train".

Question 5

In a certain code, "BOOK" is written as "JWWS". The code for a word is "UQTS". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. MILK
  2. ROAD
  3. FISH
  4. STAR
  5. ROSE
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "BOOK" → "JWWS": each letter shifts forward by 8 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "UQTS" BACK by 8: U→M, Q→I, T→L, S→K.
  3. So the original word is "MILK".

Question 6

What is the code for "school"?

"garden bright train" is coded as "za fi ro".

"river train school garden" is coded as "la za ro ne".

"yellow train red river" is coded as "to la ro mi".

"red yellow train garden" is coded as "mi to ro za".

  1. ro
  2. la
  3. to
  4. mi
  5. ne
Show the worked solution
  1. "school" appears in the 2nd statement and in no other.
  2. The only code that appears in exactly the 2nd coded line is "ne" — every other code is either missing from one of those lines or also appears in another.
  3. So the code for "school" is "ne".

Question 7

In a certain code, "FAN" is written as "CXK". The code for a word is "EXQ". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. KEY
  2. BOX
  3. JAR
  4. HAT
  5. SKY
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "FAN" → "CXK": each letter shifts forward by 23 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "EXQ" BACK by 23: E→H, X→A, Q→T.
  3. So the original word is "HAT".

Question 8

Which word is coded as "fi"?

"red bright paper" is coded as "ki fi za".

"red bright green" is coded as "mi ki za".

  1. school
  2. paper
  3. red
  4. train
  5. yellow
Show the worked solution
  1. The code "fi" appears only in the first coded line.
  2. Matching the shared words (red, bright) to the shared codes (ki, za) leaves the word unique to line 1.
  3. That word is "paper".

Question 9

In a certain code, "GOLD" is written as "AIFX". The code for a word is "LUCH". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. LION
  2. FIRE
  3. WIND
  4. RAIN
  5. BOOK
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "GOLD" → "AIFX": each letter shifts forward by 20 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "LUCH" BACK by 20: L→R, U→A, C→I, H→N.
  3. So the original word is "RAIN".

Question 10

What is the code for "blue"?

"silver garden train paper" is coded as "su za fi to".

"paper garden blue silver" is coded as "su du fi za".

"silver train garden red" is coded as "to ki su fi".

"garden train blue" is coded as "du su to".

  1. ki
  2. za
  3. du
  4. fi
  5. to
Show the worked solution
  1. "blue" appears in the 2nd and 4th statements and in no other.
  2. The only code that appears in exactly the 2nd and 4th coded lines is "du" — every other code is either missing from one of those lines or also appears in another.
  3. So the code for "blue" is "du".

Question 11

In a certain code, "ROSE" is written as "YVZL". The code for a word is "MPYL". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. RAIN
  2. FIRE
  3. RICE
  4. SHIP
  5. TREE
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "ROSE" → "YVZL": each letter shifts forward by 7 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "MPYL" BACK by 7: M→F, P→I, Y→R, L→E.
  3. So the original word is "FIRE".

Question 12

What is the code for "silver"?

"market bright green" is coded as "ki mo su".

"garden train blue" is coded as "za pa du".

"green silver train" is coded as "za ro mo".

"green bright blue" is coded as "su du mo".

  1. pa
  2. su
  3. za
  4. ro
  5. du
Show the worked solution
  1. "silver" appears in the 3rd statement and in no other.
  2. The only code that appears in exactly the 3rd coded line is "ro" — every other code is either missing from one of those lines or also appears in another.
  3. So the code for "silver" is "ro".

Question 13

In a certain code, "BUS" is written as "XQO". The code for a word is "BWJ". What was the original word?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to find the original word.

  1. BAT
  2. FAN
  3. PIG
  4. NET
  5. HAT
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "BUS" → "XQO": each letter shifts forward by 22 (wrapping past Z).
  2. To find the original, shift each letter of "BWJ" BACK by 22: B→F, W→A, J→N.
  3. So the original word is "FAN".

Question 14

Which word is coded as "la"?

"green yellow river" is coded as "fi ki la".

"green yellow market" is coded as "ki ro fi".

  1. paper
  2. garden
  3. green
  4. river
  5. silver
Show the worked solution
  1. The code "la" appears only in the first coded line.
  2. Matching the shared words (green, yellow) to the shared codes (fi, ki) leaves the word unique to line 1.
  3. That word is "river".

Question 15

If "DESK" is written as "LMAS" in a certain code, how is "STAR" written in that code?

Determine the coding pattern from the example and apply it to the target word.

  1. BCJA
  2. ABIZ
  3. CDKB
  4. YZGX
  5. ZAHY
Show the worked solution
  1. Compare "DESK" → "LMAS": each letter shifts forward by 8 (wrapping past Z).
  2. Apply the same +8 shift to "STAR": S→A, T→B, A→I, R→Z.
  3. So "STAR" is written as "ABIZ".
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Where these questions come from

Most free practice for this topic is a scanned upload or a blog quiz, and neither can tell you a question has exactly one answer. That is the one thing this set can promise: it is minted, not typed. The engine behind it serves DeducePuzzles's daily puzzle round, so the questions here are the same shape as the ones a live round would give you — and there is an unlimited supply of them, which is why this page can be regenerated rather than padded.

If you want the method rather than more questions, How to crack a coding decoding rule covers the approach, the traps and a worked table. This page and that one deliberately answer different questions: that one is how do I solve these, this one is give me coding decoding questions with the answers.

FAQ

What is the fastest way to find the coding rule?

Write the alphabet positions of the first two or three letters under the original and the code, and read the differences. A constant difference is a plain shift; alternating differences mean the rule depends on position; a reversed sequence means the word was flipped before the shift was applied.

How do I solve message coding with three sentences?

Compare sentences in pairs. Two sentences sharing exactly one word must share exactly one code, and that pairing is fixed. Work every certain pairing first and write it down; only then use elimination on what is left. Guessing early is what makes the last two words unresolvable.

Does coding decoding appear in SSC as well as banking?

Yes, and it is usually easier there. SSC favours single-word letter shifts and number codes, while IBPS and SBI lean on multi-sentence message coding and conditional coding. The underlying skill is the same: find the rule from the smallest reliable comparison, never from the longest word.

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