What does boulder mean?
Word: Boulder
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Boulder means a very large stone, often with smooth, rounded sides.
Sounds like: bolder (more brave or confident)
How do you spell boulder?
Syllables: boul - der
Tricky part: It sounds exactly like bolder, which means braver, but the stone has an extra silent letter in its first syllable.
Watch out for: bouder, boluder
Memory tip: The big stone carries one quiet extra letter that bolder, meaning braver, does not have: picture it squashed flat under the boulder's weight.
Boulder in a sentence
Example 1: We sat on a flat boulder by the river and ate our lunch.
Example 2: The path up the hill curved around a boulder as big as a car.
Example 3: Ravi took a photo of his little sister standing next to the huge boulder.
Fun Fact
Some boulders sit far from any matching stone because glaciers carried them there long ago. Geologists call these stranded stones erratics.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
boulder
a) gravel
b) sand
c) pebble
d) rock
Show answer
d) rock. A boulder is a very big rock; pebbles, gravel and sand are all tiny pieces of stone.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) boulder
b) boelder
c) boalder
d) boolder
Show answer
a) boulder. The stone's first vowel sound is spelt ou, as in soul.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
A huge bouldar sat in the middle of the stream, and the children climbed onto it.
a) middle
b) climbed
c) stream
d) bouldar
Show answer
d) bouldar. The last part sounds like the end of under and is spelt the same way, er.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
bouldder
a) r
b) b
c) d
d) l
Show answer
c) d. One d is enough, just as in the word older.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Why do many boulders in rivers have smooth, rounded sides?
a) Fish nibble away their corners.
b) The sun melts their sharp edges.
c) Water has rubbed them for years.
d) People polish them every summer.
Show answer
c) Water has rubbed them for years.
2. The climbers had to walk round the boulder because it was too ____ to move.
a) heavy
b) thin
c) light
d) soft
Show answer
a) heavy
