Select the sentence containing the homonym of the highlighted word: The monk rested near the cloister's ambulatory.
- (a)The architect designed the ambulatory around the apse.
- (b)The hospital’s ambulatory was upgraded with oxygen ports.
- (c)The tourist strolled the ambulatory of the cathedral.
- (d)The relics were displayed along the gothic ambulatory.
Answer
Why
Correct — B. In the given sentence, ambulatory is a noun from church architecture: a covered walkway, here the walk of a monastery cloister.
In (b) the setting is a hospital with oxygen ports. That moves the word into its medical sense, as in ambulatory care: outpatient treatment, for patients who are not bedridden.
Same spelling, different meaning → option (b).
Why the others are wrong
- (a)The architect designed the ambulatory around the apse. — Around the apse puts this ambulatory in a church: the aisle that curves round its rounded end. That is the architectural walkway of the given sentence, so the meaning has not changed.
- (c)The tourist strolled the ambulatory of the cathedral. — A tourist strolling it in a cathedral walks the same covered passage the monk rested beside. The sense is the architectural one, so this is the same meaning, not a homonym.
- (d)The relics were displayed along the gothic ambulatory. — Relics set out along a gothic ambulatory are displayed beside a church walkway. That is still the architectural sense of the given sentence, so the meaning is unchanged.
Concept
A homonym item uses a word in one sense, then asks which sentence uses the same spelling with a different meaning.
Read each option's setting. Apse, cathedral and gothic are church words, so (a), (c) and (d) keep the architectural walkway. Hospital and oxygen ports are medical words, and they pull ambulatory into its medical sense.
A change of scene is not a change of meaning: an architect, a tourist and a display of relics all still refer to the same walkway.
Strictly, these are two senses of one word, since both grow from Latin ambulare, to walk. Linguists call that polysemy. The item uses homonym loosely, for a same-spelled word in a different sense.
As a noun, ambulatory usually means the walkway, and the medical sense is mostly an adjective (ambulatory care). So (b) reads as shorthand for the hospital's ambulatory-care unit.
Key facts
- Ambulatory (noun): a covered place for walking, especially the aisle round the apse of a church or the walk of a cloister.
- Ambulatory (adjective, medical): able to walk, not bedridden. Ambulatory care is outpatient care.
- An apse is the rounded or many-sided recess at the end of a church, usually holding the altar.
- Both senses go back to Latin ambulare, to walk, which also gives amble and ambulance.
Study next
Common traps
- Treating a change of scene (an architect, a tourist, relics) as a change of meaning, when all three still name the church walkway
- Ruling out (b) as a misuse because the medical sense is unfamiliar
The same design, three sentences keeping one field and one moving the word into another, is keyed at 22 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.18 (breviarium, keyed on the technician who calibrates it with voltmeters).
Related PYQs
No directly related past PYQ was found.