SSC CGL 2024 Tier-I · 26 September 2024, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 11 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 homophone to fill in the blank. The _____ of the flowers spread everywhere when they bloom.

(a)cent
(b)sent
(c)scent
(d)saint

Answer

Why

Correct — C. The blank sits between The and the verb spread, so it must be a noun, and the sentence is about flowers in bloom. What spreads from a flower is its smell.

Scent is exactly that noun: a pleasant smell given off by something.

Cent, sent and scent are the real homophones here, all pronounced /sent/, so sound cannot choose between them — meaning and word class do. That leaves option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
cent — A cent is a coin, one hundredth of a dollar or a euro. It is a genuine homophone of scent, which is why it is listed, but a unit of currency cannot spread from a blooming flower.
(b)
sent — Sent is the past tense and past participle of send, so it is a verb form. The blank follows the article The and needs a noun, which rules sent out on grammar before meaning is even consulted.
(d)
saint — A saint is a holy person, and it is not a homophone at all: it is pronounced /seɪnt/, not /sent/. It fails both tests the question sets, sound and sense.

Concept

A homophone item hands you words that sound identical and asks meaning to do the sorting. Work it in two passes.

First fix the word class. 'The _____ of the flowers spread' needs a noun, which removes any verb form on the list without a thought about meaning.

Then fix the sense: what a flower gives off is a smell. Scent is the only survivor of both passes.

Check the set too. One option is often not a homophone but a near-sound word, and it can be dismissed on pronunciation alone.

Cent, scent and sent are pronounced alike in standard British and Indian English. Saint is not, so the set is three homophones plus a look-alike.

Key facts

Scent is a noun meaning a pleasant smell given off by something.
Cent, sent and scent share the pronunciation /sent/.
Sent is the past form of send and cannot follow the article 'the'.
Saint is pronounced /seɪnt/ and is not a homophone of scent.

Study next

Homophone sets worth learning, such as flour and flower, heal and heel, their and thereHomophones that differ in word class, such as principal and principleNear-homophones that are not true pairs, such as accept and except

Common traps

Picking sent because it is the most familiar spelling in the set
Skipping the grammar check that the blank follows 'The' and must be a noun
Assuming every option in a homophone set really is a homophone

SSC prints a one-line sentence with a single blank and a set of sound-alikes, so the answer is decided by what fits the sentence rather than by which spelling looks hardest.

The same frame appears at 18 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.2 (rote / rowed / rode / road) and at 25 Sep 2024, 16:00, English Q.19 (flora / floor / flour / flavour).

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.