SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 13 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 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

Select the sentence containing the homonym of the highlighted word: The choir began the introit at the priest’s signal.

(a)The child sang the introit during the intermission.
(b)The introit was replaced by an organ improvisation.
(c)The missal included Latin text for the introit.
(d)The cantor rehearsed the Sunday introit.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. In the stem, introit is the chant that opens a church service: the choir begins it at the priest's signal.

The organ piece that replaces it, the Latin text in the missal and the cantor's Sunday rehearsal all keep that church sense.

No option gives introit an unrelated meaning, so none holds a true homonym. See the dispute note.

The key marks the child's sentence, the one set outside a service: sung during the intermission, a break in a performance. This card follows the key → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
The introit was replaced by an organ improvisation. — Replaced by an organ improvisation still treats the introit as the opening item of a service, a slot the organ fills instead. Same word, same church sense as the stem.
(c)
The missal included Latin text for the introit. — The missal is the book of Mass texts, so its Latin text for the introit is the liturgical chant itself — the stem's sense exactly.
(d)
The cantor rehearsed the Sunday introit. — A cantor leads the singing in a service, and the Sunday introit is the chant for Sunday's service. The word keeps its liturgical meaning.

Concept

A homonym shares its form with another word of unrelated meaning: row (to move a boat with oars) and row (a line). Fix the stem's meaning first, then look for the option where the same form means something else.

Introit, from Latin introitus, 'entrance', names the chant or prayer at the start of Mass. In Protestant use it can be any choral piece sung at the opening of a service.

Strictly, introit has no homonym. Its senses — the Mass chant, an opening choral piece, and an obsolete sense of 'entrance' — all grow from one Latin word, and every option uses that same word.

The key works only as 'which sentence uses the word in a different setting', and the child's sentence is the one that leaves the church service.

Key facts

Introit comes from Latin introitus, 'entrance'.
In the Roman Catholic Mass, the introit is read or sung at the start, as the priest goes up to the altar.
A missal is the book containing the texts of the Mass.
Homonyms share spelling and sound but not meaning: row (to move a boat with oars) and row (a line).

Study next

Homophones set as blanks, such as row and roePolysemy versus homonymy: one word with related senses, or two unrelated words sharing a formChurch-music words in this item: cantor, missal, introit

Common traps

Looking for a different spelling among the options, when every option spells introit the same way
Reading the organ improvisation or the missal as a new meaning: both still place the introit inside a church service, the stem's own setting

True homonyms are tested at 23 Sep 2024, 09:00, English Q.9: row (the verb) and row (a sequence) share spelling and sound, with roe planted as the homophone trap. This item has no true pair, and the key can only be read by setting.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.