SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 1 · English Comprehension · Question 13 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 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.

We doubt SSC's key on this question.

Wiktionary and Etymonline record basilica only as a building, so no option holds a true homonym; the key can only be read as picking the one sentence where the word cannot mean a building, and this card follows it.

The answer below is still the option SSC's key marks, and we solve to that option.

Select the sentence containing the homonym of the highlighted word: The basilica was renowned for its acoustics and proportions.

(a)The archaeologist uncovered the foundations of a Roman basilica.
(b)The musician composed an oratorio for performance in the basilica.
(c)The botanist catalogued a rare basilica with serrated leaves.
(d)Pilgrims gathered inside the ancient basilica at dusk.

Answer

Why

Correct — C. In the stem, basilica is a building, one renowned for its acoustics and proportions.

Sentences (a), (b) and (d) keep a building sense: the foundations of a Roman basilica, a basilica where an oratorio is performed, a basilica pilgrims gather inside.

Sentence (c) gives the basilica serrated leaves, a plant. It is the sentence where the word cannot mean a building, the reading the key takes: option (c).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
The archaeologist uncovered the foundations of a Roman basilica. — a Roman basilica was a large public hall used as a court of justice. It is a different building from a church, but still a building, so the word keeps its sense.
(b)
The musician composed an oratorio for performance in the basilica. — performance in the basilica keeps the building: a place where an oratorio is performed. That fits the stem's acoustics: same sense, no homonym.
(d)
Pilgrims gathered inside the ancient basilica at dusk. — Pilgrims gathered inside the basilica, a church people enter. The word means the same kind of building here as in the stem.

Concept

A homonym is a word with the same spelling and sound as another but an unrelated meaning: the stern of a ship and a stern warning.

Here three sentences keep the stem's building sense and one moves the word into botany. Find the sentence where the stem's meaning cannot work: a building cannot have serrated leaves.

An honest caveat. Wiktionary and Etymonline record basilica only as a building: a Roman hall of justice, or a church. Neither gives a plant sense, so strictly no option holds a true homonym.

The item works by elimination. The plant word from the same Greek root is basil, and Etymonline traces both to basileus, 'king'.

Key facts

A basilica is a building: a Roman hall used as a court of justice, or a church.
Etymonline traces basilica through Latin basilica, 'building of a court of justice', to Greek basilike, 'royal'.
Basil, the herb, comes from Greek basilikon (phyton), 'royal (plant)', from basileus, 'king'.
A homonym shares spelling and sound with another word but has an unrelated meaning.

Study next

True homonym pairs such as stern (of a ship) and stern (strict), or bank (of a river) and bank (for money)Homonyms against homophones: row and roe sound alike but are spelled differently

Common traps

Choosing (a) because a Roman hall of justice is not a church, when it is still a building
Choosing (b) because oratorio and acoustics look like a clue, when they only confirm the building sense

The same format with a true homonym appears at 21 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.19, where the stern of the ship is keyed against a stern warning.

At 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.13, pauldron is keyed the way basilica is here: the sentence, set on a sea slug, where the armour sense cannot work.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Homonyms and confusables — all 10 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.