One word substitution means replacing a long group of words with a single exact word. For example, 'a person who loves mankind' becomes philanthropist. The exam gives you a phrase and four words; you pick the one word that means exactly that. The trick is simple: most answers are built from small word-endings and roots (like -logy = study of, -cide = killing). Learn these parts and you can often guess a word you have never seen. Every quiz below is a real Punjab Police SI or Constable question.
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Past questions on this page
Punjab Police SI & Constable
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exact word is the answer
8+
roots unlock most words
What is one word substitution?
One word, same meaning as a whole phrase.
KEY TERM
One word substitution
A phrase like 'a long journey to a holy place' is replaced by one word: pilgrimage. The right word matches the phrase exactly — not 'almost'. If two words are close, pick the one whose meaning covers every part of the phrase. Watch for look-alike and opposite words placed as traps.
Crack it with word-endings and roots
Break the word into parts. Each part carries a fixed meaning.
| Part | Meaning | Example word |
|---|---|---|
| -logy | study of | psychology (mind), geology (rock & soil) |
| -cracy / -archy | rule / government by | democracy (people), aristocracy (nobility), monarchy (one king) |
| -cide | killing | patricide (father), homicide (a human) |
| -phobia | fear of | hydrophobia (water), acrophobia (heights) |
| phil- | love of | philanthropist (mankind) |
| ped- | foot | pedestrian (one who walks) |
| im- / in- | not (opposite) | immortal (cannot die), insolvent (cannot pay) |
| Phrase | One word | Meaning (Punjabi) |
|---|---|---|
| One who loves mankind | Philanthropist | ਦਾਨੀ / ਲੋਕ-ਭਲਾਈ ਕਰਨ ਵਾਲਾ |
| The study of the mind | Psychology | ਮਨੋਵਿਗਿਆਨ |
| One who cannot die | Immortal | ਅਮਰ |
| One who travels on foot | Pedestrian | ਪੈਦਲ ਰਾਹੀ |
| A long journey to a holy place | Pilgrimage | ਤੀਰਥ ਯਾਤਰਾ |
| A speech in praise of someone | Eulogy | ਪ੍ਰਸ਼ੰਸਾ-ਭਾਸ਼ਣ |
| A woman whose husband is dead | Widow | ਵਿਧਵਾ |
| A speech made without preparation | Extempore | ਤਤਕਾਲ ਭਾਸ਼ਣ |
Real Punjab Police questions
Read the phrase, find the root, then choose.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
The one who loves mankind
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Philanthropist
Punjab Police Constable 2025. 'Loves mankind' = phil (love) + anthropos (mankind). A philanthropist loves and helps humankind, usually by giving to good causes. An atheist does not believe in God; a gourmet loves fine food; a cosmopolitan feels at home anywhere.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
The study of the human mind
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Psychology
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. The root -logy means 'study of' and psyche means 'mind'. So psychology is the study of the mind. The trap is physiology (study of how the body works). Biology = living things; geology = the earth.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. The study of rock and soil
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Geology
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Geo means 'earth' and -logy means 'study of', so geology is the study of rock and soil. The close trap is geography, which studies surface features, climate and people — not rock and soil in detail. Botany = plants; astronomy = stars.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. "A form of government in which power is held by the nobility"
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Aristocracy
Punjab Police Constable 2025. The ending -cracy means 'rule by'. Aristo means 'the best / nobility', so aristocracy is rule by the nobility. Bureaucracy = rule by officials; gerontocracy = rule by elders; kakistocracy = rule by the worst.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. Government by the representatives of the people.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — Democracy
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Demo means 'people' and -cracy means 'rule', so democracy is government by the people through their elected representatives. Monarchy = rule by a king; dictatorship and despotism = unchecked rule by one person, not chosen by the people.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. One who travels on foot.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Pedestrian
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. The root ped- (Latin pes, pedis) means 'foot', so a pedestrian is one who travels on foot. Amateur = does something for pleasure, not pay; pessimist = expects the worst; patricide = killing one's father.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. One who feeds on human flesh
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Cannibal
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. A cannibal is one who eats the flesh of its own kind — for a human, human flesh. The trap is carnivorous, which means flesh-eating in general (any meat) and is an adjective, not 'one who'. Herbivorous = plant-eating; insectivorous = insect-eating.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. One who cannot die.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Immortal
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Im- means 'not' and mortal means 'subject to death', so immortal = one who cannot die. The trap is mortal itself (the opposite). Obsolete = out of date; transient = lasting a short time.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. A speech or writing in praise of a person or thing
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — Eulogy
Punjab Police Constable 2025. A eulogy is a speech or piece of writing in praise of a person or thing (often at a funeral). A sermon is a religious talk; a harangue is an angry lecture; an admonition is a mild scolding — none of these mean praise.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. It is an excessively sentimental yearning for some past period of time.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Nostalgia
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Nostalgia (Greek nostos 'return home' + algos 'pain') is a sentimental longing for the past. The look-alike trap is neuralgia (the same algos, but sharp nerve pain). Bargain = a good deal; neutral = taking no side.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
A person, especially an entertainer, who can make their voice appear to come from somewhere else, typically a dummy of a person or animal.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: C — Ventriloquist
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. A ventriloquist (Latin venter 'belly' + loqui 'to speak') speaks without moving the lips so the voice seems to come from a dummy. A mimic only copies voices, but does not shift where the voice seems to come from — that detail decides it.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. It is the cooperation of two or more organisations to produce an effect which is greater than the sum of their separate effects.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Synergy
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Synergy is the cooperation of two or more things whose combined effect is greater than the sum of their separate effects — as in 'synergies' from a merger. Allergy = a body reaction; hypothesis = an idea to be tested; energy = capacity to do work.
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words. A woman whose husband is dead.
Tap an option to answer
Answer: B — Widow
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. A widow is a woman whose husband has died (the male form is widower). The distractors are all unmarried people, which is different: maiden = a young unmarried woman; spinster = an older unmarried woman; bachelor = an unmarried man (wrong gender too).
QUICK CHECK
Select the option that can be used as a one-word substitute for the given group of words.
The cry of an owl
Tap an option to answer
Answer: D — Hoot
Punjab Police Sub Inspector 2023. Each creature has its own sound-word: an owl hoots. The trap is tweet, because an owl is a bird too — but 'tweet' is only the short high call of small songbirds, never the owl's low cry. Bleat = sheep/goat; moo = cow.
COMMON TRAPS
- Pick the exact match, not the 'close' word (carnivorous ≠ cannibal).
- Beware look-alikes: nostalgia vs neuralgia, perpetual vs conceptual.
- Beware opposites: mortal vs immortal, solvent vs insolvent.
- If the clue says 'one who…', pick a person-noun, not an adjective.
- -cracy / -archy = rule; -logy = study; -cide = killing.
- When options rhyme, split at the root and match only the root.
CHECK YOURSELF
Choose the one word for: 'The murder of one's own brother.' (a) homicide (b) fratricide (c) genocide (d) suicide
Show answer
(b) fratricide. The ending -cide means 'killing' and the root frater means 'brother', so fratricide = killing one's brother. Homicide = killing a human; genocide = killing a whole race; suicide = killing oneself.