Watchword Personality Test
(Paper Version)
About the Watchword Test
The Watchword Test will allow you to discover your psychological type and explore your personality dynamics.
As an alternative to this paper and pencil version of the test, you can also take our free and confidential online test.
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is highly recommended that you complete the Watchword Personality Test before reading the detailed explanations provided on our other pages.
Completing the Test
To take the test, all you need to know is that Watchword is a game of word association.
Make sure that you are comfortable and will not be disturbed for at least half an hour. You may wish to turn off phone notifications.
Ideally you should be alone but, in any case, do not allow anyone to watch or comment upon what you are doing, or to interfere in any other way.
Before you can begin, you will need a copy of the Blank Watchword Test Form. Click the box below and print out the page.
When you are ready, follow the steps described below.
Step 1
Place the form horizontally and write eight different words, from left to right, in the boxes along the top of the sheet.
You may write any words at all – just the first words that come into your head. Try not to censor your thoughts in any way and don’t spend too long thinking what to write.
Also, don’t write a sentence or grammatically connected sequence. Simply write eight separate words.
Step 2
Write another eight different words, from left to right, in the boxes along the bottom of the sheet.
Do NOT turn the sheet upside down to do this.
Again, just write the first words that come to mind.
Step 3
Take a look at the two words that you have written in the highlighted boxes.
Now think of another word that, in your opinion, somehow connects the two words that you are considering.
The connection can be of any kind at all as long as it makes sense to you. Don’t worry if another person might not understand the association you make.
If you think of more than one connecting word, choose the one that provides the link which, in your opinion, is the most personally meaningful.
The word you choose must be different from the two you are considering but it may, if you wish, be the same as a word written elsewhere on the form.
If you cannot think of a single word that makes an appropriate link, you may use a short phrase instead.
Now write the connecting word (phrase) in the blank box below the highlighted words.
Step 4
Repeat this process of forming connections using the other three pairs of words along the top row.
Write your connecting word for each pair in the blank boxes below the highlighted words.
Step 5
Continue forming connections using the four pairs of words along the bottom row.
Write your connecting word for each pair in the blank boxes above the highlighted words.
Step 6
Continue the connections, as shown here ...
Step 7
... then as shown here.
Step 8
Finally, complete these three connections.
First Impressions
Now that you have completed the form, you can begin to interpret (1) your psychological type and (2) your personality dynamics.
Before doing this, however, reflect on your experience of making connections between your words. In particular, consider these questions:
- Did you feel that, as you progressed through the exercise, you seemed to be tapping deeper and more psychologically meaningful layers of thought?
- Do the eleven words that appear within the central rectangular outline seem in any way significant to you, perhaps when understood as metaphors or symbols of features in your life?
- Do the final three words in particular seem to encapsulate or symbolize something very basic about your personality or present situation?
If you can answer ‘YES’ to these questions, then you should find the interpretive process interesting, relatively straightforward and, hopefully, informative.
If, on the other hand, the words you have written seem trivial or meaningless, this does not necessarily indicate that the exercise has not ‘worked’ for you. It may mean, however, that the process of interpretation will require some effort on your part and a willingness to explore indirect or symbolic associations.
Click the buttons to interpret your test
