Select the most appropriate homonym to fill in the blank. Aravind is good in…

A homonym is a word that keeps the same spelling and pronunciation but carries two or more entirely unrelated meanings; only the surrounding sentence context tells you which sense is intended.

In “Aravind is good in handling a pike,” the verb “handling” describes controlling or manoeuvring an object with skill. That context points to “pike” meaning a spear with a long wooden shaft — the traditional infantry weapon — because a weapon is the kind of object a person is typically described as “handling”.

Checking the other senses against the same sentence:

• “a number of things lying one on top of another” is the meaning of the differently spelled word “pile”, not “pike” — a spelling trap, not a genuine sense of the tested word.

• “a plate stacked in a pile” describes an everyday use of the word “pile”, not a dictionary meaning of “pike” — again a spelling-based mix-up rather than a genuine sense of the tested word.

• “a large predatory freshwater fish” is a genuine dictionary sense of “pike”, but this sentence's context does not support it — a fish is not usually described as being “handled”.

So the correct sense of “pike” in this sentence is a spear with a long wooden shaft.