What does accumulate mean?
Word: Accumulate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Accumulate means to gather or pile up, little by little, over a period of time.
Synonyms: gather, collect, pile up, amass
Antonyms: disperse, spend
How do you spell accumulate?
Syllables: ac - cu - mu - late
Tricky part: Only the c doubles; the m stays single, and that is where most mistakes happen.
Watch out for: accummulate, acumulate, accumulat
Memory tip: Only one pair of twins lives in accumulate, the cc at the front; after that, no letter doubles.
Accumulate in a sentence
Example 1: Dust accumulates under the bed if we do not sweep there.
Example 2: Ethan let his pocket money accumulate all summer and then bought a cricket bat.
Example 3: Rainwater accumulated in the potholes after the storm.
Fun Fact
Cumulus clouds, the puffy white ones, are named from the Latin cumulus, a heap, the same word that gives us accumulate.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
accumulate
a) store
b) stockpile
c) scatter
d) hoard
Show answer
c) scatter. To scatter is to spread things out, the reverse of piling them up.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letter to form a word:
accum_late
a) i
b) a
c) u
d) e
Show answer
c) u. Say ac-cu-mu-late: the mu has the same u sound as the cu before it.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
luatcmuace
a) accurate
b) articulate
c) accumulate
d) calculate
Show answer
c) accumulate. Calculate and articulate lack the m, and accurate has an r the jumble does not.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) accumulate
b) separate
c) desparate
d) moderate
Show answer
c) desparate. Desperate has an e after the p; the other three are spelt correctly.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Raju lets his pocket money accumulate for a year. His savings ____.
a) grow steadily
b) stay the same
c) vanish overnight
d) shrink each week
Show answer
a) grow steadily
2. Which sentence uses accumulate correctly?
a) Leaves accumulate in the gutter every autumn.
b) Please accumulate the light before sleeping.
c) He accumulated a song for the party.
d) She accumulated the door and went out.
Show answer
a) Leaves accumulate in the gutter every autumn.
