SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 5 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.

Choose the correct spelling of a word meaning 'to express disapproval or disappointment'.

(a)Reproove
(b)Reprove
(c)Reprovve
(d)Repruve

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The word is reprove: r-e-p-r-o-v-e, with a single o before the v.

It ends like prove, approve and improve, where a single o carries the 'oo' sound. It also shares a root with prove and approve: Latin probare, to test.

Reprove means to reprimand or scold, to show disapproval → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
Reproove — Reproove doubles the o. The noun reproof is spelt with oo, which is why this misspelling looks right, but the verb keeps a single o.
(c)
Reprovve — Reprovve doubles the v. The word ends in a single -ve, exactly like prove and approve, and English seldom doubles v at all.
(d)
Repruve — Repruve spells the sound, not the word. The vowel is said 'oo', but English writes it with an o, as in prove and move.

Concept

Reprove means to reprimand or censure someone, often gently: the teacher reproved him for talking. It comes through French from Latin reprobare, to disapprove, built on probare, to test or prove.

The spelling trap is the verb-noun pair. The verb is reprove, with one o. The noun is reproof, with two o's and a final f.

Prove and proof follow the same pattern.

All four options are attempts at the same word, so the meaning in the stem only identifies it. The item is decided by letters, not by sense.

Key facts

Reprove is spelt with a single o: r-e-p-r-o-v-e.
Its noun is reproof, spelt with oo and a final f.
Prove and proof follow the same verb-noun pattern.
Reprove means to reprimand or censure, often gently.

Study next

Verb-noun spelling pairs: prove and proof, reprove and reproof, believe and beliefWords ending in -ove said 'oov': move, prove, approve and improveDisapproval vocabulary: reprimand, rebuke, censure and admonish

Common traps

Carrying the oo of the noun reproof into the verb and choosing Reproove
Spelling the vowel as it sounds and choosing Repruve

The stem gives a meaning and four spellings of one word, so the item is decided letter by letter.

The same format with a similar meaning is also asked at 18 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.6 (Expression of mild disapproval, keyed Expostulation).

At 12 Sep 2024, 12:30, English Q.15, Reprove is a wrong option in a synonym item on Repulse, keyed Repel.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.