IPMAT Indore 2023 · Verbal Ability · Question 24

The word pair being tested: cord vs chord.

cord — a length of thin rope or flexible cable; also a unit of cut firewood; also vocal cords, umbilical cord.

chord — a group of musical notes sounded together; also a straight line joining two points on a curve.

Checking each option:

(b) “a cord of wood” ✔ — a genuine unit of volume for firewood (128 cubic feet). Unfamiliar to many students, but correct.

(c) “wore it on a cord around her neck” ✔ — a thin rope.

(d) “cut the umbilical cord” ✔ — the fixed anatomical term, used here figuratively.

(a) “The musician would hear a cord in his head and play each note individually” ✘ — the mention of notes makes it unmistakably musical. A group of notes is a chord.

Answer: Option 1

Shortcut. The giveaway is three words later: “play each note individually.” Notes belong to a chord, not a cord. Read past the tested word before judging it — the error in these questions is almost always confirmed by the rest of the sentence.

Don’t be put off by option (b). “A cord of wood” sounds wrong to anyone who has not met it, and that unfamiliarity is deliberate bait. Unfamiliar is not the same as incorrect — verify by meaning, never by whether you have heard the phrase before.

Memory hook: chord has an h, like harmony.