SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 13 September 2024, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 19 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 10 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 most appropriate option to fill in the blank. The homophone for the word ‘there’ is _________.

(a)those
(b)their
(c)that
(d)clear

Answer

Why

Correct — B. A homophone is a word that sounds identical to another but is spelt differently and means something else.

Say the four options aloud: their is the one that repeats the sound of there. The two differ in spelling and in job — there is an adverb of place, or the dummy subject in there is a problem, while their is the possessive determiner in their books.

That sound match is the whole test, so option (b) is right. Meaning plays no part in a homophone item, which is why the answer shares nothing with there except its pronunciation.

Why the others are wrong

(a)
those — Those is the plural demonstrative determiner. It shares only the opening th- in spelling, and the two words are not pronounced alike, so it fails the sound test.
(c)
that — That is a demonstrative and a conjunction. Again the overlap with there is the th- spelling; the vowel and the ending are different, so it is no homophone.
(d)
clear — Clear ends in -ear, not -ere, and rhymes with near; there does not. Different pronunciation, so it cannot qualify.

Concept

A homophone pair matches in sound while differing in spelling and meaning: there and their, right and rite, flour and flower.

Homographs and homonyms are separate labels. Homographs match in spelling — lead the metal against lead the verb. Homonyms match in both spelling and sound.

The item asks which option you could not tell apart from the given word in speech. That is why the answer often looks nothing like a synonym: their shares no meaning at all with there.

There has a third homophone, they're, the contraction of they are. It is not among the options, so it does not compete with their here.

Key facts

A homophone matches another word in sound while differing from it in both spelling and meaning.
There is an adverb of place or a dummy subject, while their is the possessive determiner placed before a noun.
The full set is there, their and they're, and this item offers just one of the three.

Study next

The there, their and they're triple and the tests that separate themFrequently set homophone pairs such as right and rite, flour and flowerHomophone against homograph against homonym as three distinct labels

Common traps

Hunting for a word close in meaning to there instead of one close in sound
Picking a word that merely starts with th-, such as those or that
Writing they're in a sentence that needs the possessive their

The usual framing drops the homophone into a sentence and asks you to complete it. Here the sentence is removed and the homophone of a given word is asked for directly, which strips out every contextual clue and leaves the sound.

Sentence-framed versions are set on 9 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.18 — He has the ____ to express his thoughts, keyed right — and on 13 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.4 — The ____ was decorated with candles and chocolates everywhere, keyed floor.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.