17 Vocabulary (English) questions asked in CTET previous year papers, each with the correct answer and explanation. Read them free on UTpaper, or attempt the full papers as timed online tests.
Match the ways of reading with what readers do :
Ways of reading:
A. Predicting
B. Inferring attitude
C. Deducing meaning from context
D. Intensive reading
E. Identifying text organisation
What readers do:
i. They determine how writers feel based on how they write.
ii. They use parts of the text to help them understand unfamiliar lexis.
iii. They look at how the information is structured, by noticing headings or introductory phrases.
iv. They focus on how language is used in a piece of text.
v. They use titles and pictures to give themselves ideas about what the text is about.
AA-iv, B-iii, C-ii, D-i, E-v
BA-v, B-i, C-ii, D-iv, E-iii
CA-i, B-iv, C-v, D-ii, E-iii
DA-ii, B-i, C-iii, D-iv, E-v
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Correct answer: (B) A-v, B-i, C-ii, D-iv, E-iii
Explanation
Predicting uses titles and pictures (A-v), inferring attitude judges how writers feel (B-i), deducing meaning uses parts of the text for unfamiliar words (C-ii), intensive reading focuses on language use (D-iv) and identifying organisation notices headings (E-iii).
Q3CTET January 2024 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 21 Jan 2024
Following learning task was given to learners in different groups. Find out what is this vocabulary learning activity known as.
Find words and phrases which relate to the following words.
Family, Relationship, Feeling
AThematic Vocabulary
BWord clusters
CCluster Vocabulary
DWord Web
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Correct answer: (A) Thematic Vocabulary
Explanation
Collecting words and phrases around given themes such as family, relationship and feeling is thematic vocabulary learning, where words are learnt in meaningful topic-based sets.
Q4CTET January 2024 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 21 Jan 2024
A teacher at the secondary stage gives a text/short story and asks them to read and discuss the meaning and ideas of the text from the point of view of power and justice. What does the teacher attempt to develop in the learners ?
ACritical literacy skills
BCritical pedagogy
CCritical language development
DHigher order language skills
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Correct answer: (A) Critical literacy skills
Explanation
Reading a text to question whose interests it serves and how it reflects power, justice and inequality is critical literacy. Critical pedagogy is the teacher’s approach, not the skill developed in learners.
When we say ‘Language is arbitrary’, we mean to say that:
Athere is an inherent relation between the words of a language and their meaning.
Bthe relation between words and their meaning is based on a valid reason and not on chance.
Cthere is no inherent relation between the words of a language and their meaning.
DLanguage follows prefixed principles.
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Correct answer: (C) there is no inherent relation between the words of a language and their meaning.
Explanation
Arbitrariness means there is no natural link between a word's sound and its meaning; for example the same animal is ‘dog’ in English and ‘kutta’ in Hindi. The link is a matter of convention.
Q6CTET December 2024 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 15 Dec 2024
Defining new words within context instead of making the children learn meanings of new words
Aoften confuses the children
Bhelps in better understanding of the word
Cpromotes rote memorization
Dleads to wastage of time
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Correct answer: (B) helps in better understanding of the word
Explanation
Meeting a word in context shows how it is actually used, which gives deeper understanding and better retention than memorising meanings in isolation.
Q7CTET December 2024 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 15 Dec 2024
A listener while listening listens to the specific details recognises cognates and word order patterns. What is this listening process known as?
ABottom-up process
BTop-down process
CInferential process
DLinear process
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Correct answer: (A) Bottom-up process
Explanation
Building meaning from small units such as sounds, words, cognates and word order is bottom-up processing; top-down processing uses background knowledge and context.
Q8CTET December 2024 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 14 Dec 2024
Aparna, a learner of class V understands that listening involves listening to each sound, words, then sentences to get the meaning of the speech or an audio. Which approach/strategy she believes in for learning to listen ?
AIt is neither top-down nor bottom-up approach
BTop-down approach
CBottom-up approach
DBoth top-down and bottom-up approach
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Correct answer: (C) Bottom-up approach
Explanation
Building meaning from the smallest units (sounds, then words, then sentences) is the bottom-up approach; top-down starts from context and background knowledge.
Q9CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 1 Mar 2026
Some words can have more than one meaning. The meaning of words in a particular language relates to which of the following ?
ASyntax
BPhonology
CMorphology
DSemantics
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Correct answer: (D) Semantics
Explanation
Semantics is the study of meaning in language, including words with more than one meaning.
Q10CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 1 Mar 2026
Input is defined as the _____________ a learner hears and responds to for its meaning.
ALanguage
BCommunication
CConversation
DRules
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Correct answer: (A) Language
Explanation
Input is the language a learner hears (or reads) and processes for meaning (Krashen's comprehensible input).
Q11CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 8 Feb 2026
Which approach to language teaching advocates words and word chunks as the foundation for language learning ?
ALexical approach
BGrammar translation method
CTask based language learning
DCommunicative approach
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Correct answer: (A) Lexical approach
Explanation
Michael Lewis's Lexical Approach holds that language consists of lexis - words and multi-word chunks (collocations, fixed phrases) - rather than grammar rules.
Q12CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 7 Feb 2026
_____ is concerned with the aspects of meaning in language.
APhonetics
BSemantics
CSyntax
DMorphology
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Correct answer: (B) Semantics
Explanation
Semantics is the study of meaning; phonetics deals with speech sounds, syntax with sentence structure and morphology with word structure.
Q13CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 7 Feb 2026
A teacher of Grade 6 writes a word in the centre of the blackboard, and asks the learners to brainstorm all the words they can think of which are connected to the central word.
The major objective of this activity is
Aenhancing writing skills
Bimproving vocabulary of learners
Cunderstanding grammar
Denhancing reading skills
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Correct answer: (B) improving vocabulary of learners
Explanation
This 'word web' or mind-map activity helps learners recall and connect related words, building their vocabulary.
Q14CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 7 Feb 2026
Children work in pairs. A text is divided in half. One child reads their text for the partner which the other child writes. Two of them work out the whole text. This activity is called
Arunning dictation
Bword web
Cpartial dictation
Dstory telling
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Correct answer: (C) partial dictation
Explanation
Each child holds only part of the text and dictates it to the partner, so together they rebuild the whole—a partial (paired) dictation activity.
Q15CTET February 2026 Paper 2 Maths & Science, 7 Feb 2026
Read the following statements :
A : Reading is just to understand letter-sound relationships and pronounce the words correctly.
B : Reading is decoding symbols to arrive at meaning.
Choose the correct option.
ABoth A and B are true
BA is true but B is false
CB is true but A is false
DBoth A and B are false
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Correct answer: (C) B is true but A is false
Explanation
Reading is making meaning from print (B true); decoding letter-sound relationships and pronunciation alone is not reading (A false).
Which of the following is NOT true of learning a language?
ALanguage learning takes time.
BLanguage learning is meaning making.
CGrammar learning is essential for learning a language.
DAll learners can learn a language easily if sufficient engagement with language is given.
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Correct answer: (C) Grammar learning is essential for learning a language.
Explanation
Language is acquired mainly through meaningful use and exposure; explicit grammar learning is not essential for learning a language, so (3) is not true.
Infants around 2 to 3 months of age are capable of producing open vowel sounds. These sounds are examples of
Acooing
Bbabbling
Cshouting
Done-word utterances
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Correct answer: (A) cooing
Explanation
Cooing, the production of vowel-like sounds such as 'ooo' and 'aah', begins around 2-3 months. Babbling (consonant-vowel strings) comes later, around 6 months.
How to use these CTET English questions
Every question here was asked in a real CTET paper; the paper and shift are shown on the card, and the number opens the question on its own page. Try each one before tapping Show answer, then attempt the full CTET papers as timed tests to check your speed under exam conditions.