SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 16 September 2025, Shift 2 · English Comprehension · Question 14 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 13 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 artisan engraved a cartouche around the royal name.

(a)The papyrus bore a golden cartouche of the pharaoh.
(b)The Egyptian cartouche encircled each hieroglyph name.
(c)The archaeologist uncovered a silver cartouche.
(d)The sculptor carved a cartouche of floral motifs for the ceiling.

Answer

Why

Correct — D. In the stem, cartouche has its Egyptian sense: the oval ring enclosing a royal name in hieroglyphs.

Here a homonym is the same word in a different sense. In option (d) a sculptor carves a cartouche of floral motifs for a ceiling. That is the decorative sense, an ornamental frame or scroll-shaped panel → option (d).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
The papyrus bore a golden cartouche of the pharaoh. — golden cartouche of the pharaoh is the royal-name oval again, a pharaoh's name on papyrus. Same sense as the stem, so not a homonym.
(b)
The Egyptian cartouche encircled each hieroglyph name. — encircled each hieroglyph name spells out the stem's sense: the ring drawn around an Egyptian name. Same meaning, not a homonym.
(c)
The archaeologist uncovered a silver cartouche. — silver cartouche gives no cue to a new meaning. Silver names the material, not a sense, and an archaeologist's find fits the Egyptian object of the stem.

Concept

Cartouche has two main senses. In Egyptology it is an oval or oblong ring enclosing a pharaoh's name and title in hieroglyphs.
In architecture and design it is an ornamental frame, often shaped like a scroll with rolled ends, carved or drawn around an inscription or a motif.

The decision rests on context words. Floral motifs and a ceiling belong to decoration, not to a royal name.

Strictly, both senses grew from one word and dictionaries list them under a single entry, so a linguist would call this polysemy. The question uses homonym loosely: same spelling, different meaning.

Key facts

Cartouche in Egyptology: an oval or oblong ring enclosing a pharaoh's name in hieroglyphs.
Cartouche in architecture and design: an ornamental frame or scroll-shaped panel around an inscription or motif.
In a homonym item, look for the context words that force a new sense: here ceiling and floral motifs.

Study next

Homonyms vs polysemy: same spelling, different senseArchitectural terms: corbel, oriel, cartoucheEgyptological terms: hieroglyph, papyrus, pharaoh

Common traps

Treating a change of material, such as golden or silver, as a change of meaning. The context words decide the sense.
Expecting a homonym to be a different part of speech. All four options use cartouche as a noun.

The same design, three options in the stem's sense and one in another field, is asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.13, where a bishop's mitre is keyed against a welder's steel mitre joint.

At 15 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.14, a monk's crosier is keyed against a florist's crosiers, the fern-frond sense.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Homonyms and confusables — all 29 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.