SSC CGL Idioms and Phrases Questions 2026 (Most Repeated PYQ Idioms, Meanings & Usage) — Free Chapter Wise Practice Test

Idioms & Phrases Tests — Pick a Level and Start

Tap a level to see every test in it. Level 1 is set at real SSC CGL difficulty — start there. Level 2 is pitched above the exam, with literary and classical idioms and wrong options that are the meanings of look-alike idioms.

An idiom is a group of words whose meaning cannot be worked out from the words themselves. “Bury the hatchet” is not about digging, and “a red herring” is not about fish — the first means to make peace, the second something that distracts from the real issue. Every idiom question in SSC asks one thing: do you know the idiomatic meaning, not the literal one?

Marks are lost in three places. The first is the literal trap — SSC almost always puts the word-for-word meaning among the options. The second is the look-alike idiom: “at sea” (confused) against “a sea change” (a complete change), or “in the bud” against “nip in the bud”. The third is the sentence — in blank and underlined questions the context decides which idiom fits, so read the whole sentence before the options.

How Many Idioms and Phrases Questions Are Asked in SSC CGL?

Idioms are a fixed part of the English section — usually two questions in an SSC CGL Tier I shift, with similar questions in CHSL and the Tier II English paper. SSC repeats idioms heavily across years, so a well-revised list pays off directly. The four ways the question is asked are listed below, most common first.

Idioms also appear as options in Fill in the Blanks and Cloze Test questions — “walking on air” and “waiting in the wings” came as blank options in CGL 2023.

What You Will Practice in the Idioms & Phrases Chapter

The four SSC formats, in every test

• Meaning of a given idiom — four meanings, one right
• Meaning of an underlined idiom in a sentence — the sentence fixes the sense
• The idiom that fills a blank — four real idioms, only one fits the context
• The idiom that can replace an underlined plain phrase

Idioms by theme

• Success and failure: rise to the occasion, a flash in the pan, back to the drawing board, by the skin of one's teeth
• Honesty and deceit: call a spade a spade, crocodile tears, a red herring, hand in glove
• Effort and risk: pull one's socks up, move heaven and earth, cut corners, sail close to the wind
• Mood and feeling: walk on air, on tenterhooks, fly off the handle, get up on the wrong side of the bed
• Money and value: go for a song, a dime a dozen, the lion's share, keep the wolf from the door

Level 2 extras

• Classical and historical idioms: cut the Gordian knot, the sword of Damocles, Achilles' heel, Penelope's web, cross the Rubicon
• Literary and old-fashioned idioms: salad days, hoist with one's own petard, show the white feather, harp on the same string

Idioms SSC has asked in recent CGL papers

Exam years are Tier I unless marked. Every test here takes 10 of its 25 idioms from SSC papers like these.

The three traps that cost the most marks

• Taking the words literally. “Spill the beans” is never “to drop food” — if an option simply repeats the picture in the words, be suspicious of it.
• Confusing look-alike idioms. “Break the ice” (start a conversation) and “skate on thin ice” (take a risk) share a word, not a meaning.
• Ignoring the tone of the sentence. Praise or blame, success or failure — the tone alone often removes two options.

Solved Examples — SSC CGL Idioms & Phrases

How the Idioms & Phrases Tests Work

• 25 questions per test, with a full question palette — answered, skipped, marked for review, not visited.
• All four SSC formats in every test — meaning of a given idiom, meaning of an underlined idiom, idiom to fill the blank and idiom to replace an underlined phrase.
• 40% PYQ idioms — 10 of the 25 idioms in every test come from SSC CGL and CHSL previous year papers; the rest are new idioms at the same level, and no idiom repeats across the chapter.
• Optional 15-minute timer — with the clock to build exam speed, without it while you are still learning the idioms.
• Marking: +2 correct, −0.5 wrong, 0 unattempted — the same scheme as the real paper.
• Step-by-step solutions and a memory trick open after you submit, question by question — the meaning, the picture or story behind the idiom, why each wrong option fails, and the trap students fall into.
• In English, as in the exam — English Language questions are set in English in SSC CGL and CHSL.
• Free with a TrickySSC account — sign in once with Google or your mobile number, and every test is open to you.

How to Prepare Idioms & Phrases for SSC CGL

1. Learn the meaning with the picture. “Sit on the fence” — someone on the fence is on neither side. A picture fixes the meaning far better than a bare definition.
2. Start with the PYQ idioms. SSC repeats idioms across years and shifts, so the idioms already asked are the best first list.
3. Cross out the literal option first. In most SSC idiom questions one option simply repeats the words — it is almost never the answer.
4. Keep a look-alike list. At sea / a sea change, in the bud / nip in the bud, break the ice / thin ice — write the pairs side by side.
5. Use the sentence. In underlined and blank questions, decide whether the sentence needs praise or blame, success or failure, before reading the options.
6. Revise daily, not weekly. Ten idioms a day beats seventy on a Sunday, and then check yourself on a previous year paper.

Related SSC CGL English Chapters

Idioms sit in the vocabulary block of the English paper, and they come back as options in Fill in the Blanks and inside Sentence Improvement and Spot the Error sentences. Practising them together makes each one faster.

All SSC CGL Chapter Wise Tests

Every chapter below has its own free Level 1 and Level 2 tests with full solutions.

SSC CGL Idioms & Phrases — Frequently Asked Questions

More Free SSC CGL Practice