Year 1 homework question stumps parents and the internet

The task asked students to find the odd one out from the words: friend, desk, toothbrush, egg and silver. Photo / via X

A seemingly straightforward Year 1 homework question has baffled a whole community of parents online.

A mum posted her six-year-old daughter’s confusing homework assignment in a Facebook group and now parents from near and far are coming up with theories on its answer.

“So … my six-year-old daughter who’s in Year 1 got this homework question,” the post started, according to Kidspot.

“It’s confusing in my opinion to say the least, especially considering the age it’s aimed at … but I’d love to hear your answers!”

She went on: “I think it’s something you’d find in a Puzzler magazine personally but let me know your thoughts.

The homework question was, “Which word is the odd one out?”

While the question seems easy, it’s the choice of words that had parents stumped.

The words to choose from were: friend, toothbrush, desk, silver and egg.

The task asked students to find the odd one out from the words: friend, desk, toothbrush, egg and silver. Photo / via X

The question received thousands of different responses in the comments section, with over 4000 people offering their theories on the answer.

Many parents thought friend was the odd one out, saying that unlike the others, it’s not an object.

The word silver was also thought to be an outlier. Some parents argued that it’s an adjective while the others are nouns. Others said it was both a noun and an adjective.

“It’s confusing in my opinion to say the least, especially considering the age it’s aimed at … but I’d love to hear your answers!” Photo / 123RF

“Silver – as it’s an adjective and the rest are nouns would be my guess, although silver is a bad choice of colour as it could actually be a noun if it was a physical object. Silly question!” one person wrote.

“Silver isn’t a noun but I don’t know the context in which the homework is asking. If it’s confusing for adults it would be incredibly confusing for children,” another said.

A few parents chimed in saying that silver was unique because it’s the only colour.

Some said egg and toothbrush were the odd ones out.

Then others theorised that it was egg as it’s the only edible word.

“Egg is the only item you can eat …” one suggested. “Not saying little people wouldn’t eat or try to eat the other objects, but they are not food.”

‘Toothbrush’ also received attention for being the only word without an ‘e’, a compound word, and the only item not typically shared.

The mum then edited her post, revealing the answer to the confusing question.

She said, “The answer the teacher gave was silver because the rest are nouns.”

Did you get it right?