SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 12 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 6 of 100

Text as printed on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; answer per SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 6 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. The questions and options here are reproduced as printed on a candidate's own response sheet for this shift — the Commission's text, unchanged. Each answer is SSC's tentative key as marked on that sheet; SSC allowed challenges to it and never publishes a final key. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the INCORRECTLY spelt word.

(a)Centenary
(b)Consumerist
(c)Capitalist
(d)Countemptible

Answer

Why

Correct — D. The word is spelt contemptible, and the paper prints Countemptible with an intrusive u after the c.

There is no coun- prefix in this word. Contemptible is contempt plus -ible, and contempt goes back to Latin contemnere, to scorn, so the first syllable is con-, as in condemn and contest.

Centenary, consumerist and capitalist are all spelt correctly, which leaves option (d) as the misspelling.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Centenary — Centenary is correctly spelt — a hundredth anniversary, from Latin centum, a hundred. Single n in the middle, -ary at the end.
(b)
Consumerist — Consumerist is correctly spelt — consumer plus -ist, with the e of consumer kept before the suffix. The length of the word is what makes it look suspect.
(c)
Capitalist — Capitalist is correctly spelt — capital plus -ist. The stem loses no letter and doubles none when the suffix is added.

Concept

Spelling items are decided by the stem, not by the sound of the word.

Contemptible is contempt plus -ible, and contempt itself comes from Latin contemnere, to scorn. Nothing in that descent produces a u, so coun- is an invented spelling.

The suffix is worth fixing alongside it: contempt takes -ible, not -able. And the adjective pair matters as much as the spelling — contemptible means deserving contempt, while contemptuous means showing it.

The misspelling works because the eye supplies the familiar word. Read each option syllable by syllable instead, which is what this format is testing.

Key facts

Contemptible is the correct spelling and means deserving contempt or scorn.
Contempt comes from Latin contemnere, to scorn or despise.
Contemptible means deserving contempt, while contemptuous means feeling or showing it.
Centenary means a hundredth anniversary, from Latin centum, a hundred.

Study next

The -ible against -able choice: contemptible, permissible, defensible against comfortable, dependablePairs that differ by suffix and by meaning: contemptible and contemptuous, respectable and respectfulMisspellings hidden inside a sentence, as at English Q.10 of this paper (concious for conscious)

Common traps

Reading Countemptible quickly as contemptible, because the eye repairs the word
Suspecting consumerist, which looks long but is a straightforward consumer plus -ist build

The spelling item comes as four bare words, as here, or as a sentence with one misspelt word to be picked out. English Q.10 of this paper does the second, hiding concious in a sentence about listening to a question.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.