Ready to put the naked pair technique into action? This page is designed for you to practice and master naked pairs (also called obvious pairs) with real Sudoku puzzles.
Every board above is a position from a real puzzle where the Naked Pair is the next step. Tap the candidates it removes (or select a cell and press the digit) and press Check. If you’re stuck, Show me gives the answer and Next puzzle loads another. Want to watch one first? Switch to Worked example.
Naked Pair technique refresher
You can find a Naked Pair by looking for two cells within a house that have the same pair of two candidates. The example below shows a naked pair in r3c7 and r5c7 with the values three and seven.
Since these two cells have to contain the two candidates (the pair) other cells in the same row, column or block where these two candidates appear can be eliminated.
This means that three and seven can be eliminated wherever they appear in the same house which allows for eliminations in r1c7, r7c7 and r9c7. This means that five candidates can be eliminated as indicated by the red shaded cells.
This technique helps eliminate candidates which can help expose other techniques or obvious singles which can be filled in immediately.
Want a full step-by-step guide? Read the Naked Pair technique article
How to Practice
- Scan each row, column and box for two cells that hold the same two candidates and nothing else.
- Those two digits must fill those two cells, so remove them from every other cell in the shared house (or houses).
- Tap each of those candidates on the board.
- Press Check. On your first try you see how many you found; on the second, the ones you missed get a dashed ring.
Start Practicing on Full Puzzles
Once you can find the Naked Pair on most boards without pressing Show me, take it into a full game. Medium puzzles are where this technique starts to come up, and the step-by-step solver will name the technique each time you get stuck.