What does cadence mean?
Word: Cadence
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Cadence means the rise and fall of the voice when someone speaks.
Synonyms: lilt
How do you spell cadence?
Syllables: ca - dence
Tricky part: The end is said so weakly that it could be ance or ence. It is ence.
Watch out for: cadance, cadense
Memory tip: Imagine a voice going up and down like a line drawn along a fence. Fence has the same ending.
Cadence in a sentence
Example 1: Her reading had a soft cadence that calmed the whole room.
Example 2: The poet's cadence rose towards the end of every line.
Example 3: You can pick up the cadence of a language long before you know its words.
Fun Fact
Cyclists use the word too. A rider's cadence is the number of times the pedals go round in a minute.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of that word:
1. amphibian 2. perpendicular 3. serendipity 4. kadence
a) the way a speaker's tone goes up and down
b) an animal at home on land and in water
c) standing at a right angle to a line
d) finding good things by lucky chance
Show answer
a) the way a speaker's tone goes up and down. The opening k is wrong: the word starts with a c, though it sounds like a k.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word cadence as used in the sentence:
The storyteller's voice had a gentle cadence that held the whole class.
a) silence
b) rhythm
c) harshness
d) loudness
Show answer
b) rhythm. A voice that moves in a regular pattern has a rhythm.
Mingle-Mangle
Which word do the jumbled letters in the sentence spell?
Listen to the ecaecdn of her sentences as she reads the poem aloud.
a) credence
b) cadence
c) commence
d) silence
Show answer
b) cadence. Seven letters with one d and no r, m or s: that leaves one option.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
caddence
a) d
b) a
c) c
d) n
Show answer
a) d. A single d is correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which person would pay the most attention to cadence?
a) a painter mixing colours
b) a tailor measuring a sleeve
c) a newsreader training her voice
d) a farmer checking the soil
Show answer
c) a newsreader training her voice
2. A child learning a new language copies a speaker's cadence. What is she copying?
a) the speed at which pages are read
b) the shape of the written letters
c) the tune of the spoken sentences
d) the way the speaker holds a pencil
Show answer
c) the tune of the spoken sentences
