What does chestnut mean?
Word: Chestnut
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Chestnut means a shiny brown nut from a tall tree, which people often roast and eat.
How do you spell chestnut?
Syllables: chest - nut
Tricky part: The t is a silent letter: most people say ches-nut, so many students leave it out. It must still be written.
Watch out for: chesnut, chestnutt
Memory tip: Tap the table once as you write the silent t, so your hand remembers the letter your ears never hear.
Chestnut in a sentence
Example 1: We bought a paper cone of roasted chestnuts on a cold evening in Rome.
Example 2: A chestnut fell from the tree and bounced across the path.
Example 3: My aunt's chestnut stuffing is the best part of the winter meal.
Fun Fact
Children in Britain play conkers with the seeds of the horse chestnut, a tree that is not closely related to the sweet chestnut people eat.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letter to form a word:
chestn_t
a) a
b) i
c) o
d) u
Show answer
d) u. The second part is the everyday word for a hard-shelled seed, with the u of cup.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
tunshect
a) chestnut
b) chutney
c) nutshell
d) shutters
Show answer
a) chestnut. Chutney needs a y, shutters an r, and nutshell an l.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) chestnut
b) wrestle
c) iland
d) castle
Show answer
c) iland. Island keeps a silent s after the i.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
A tall chestnut tree grows near my grandmother's cottage, and its leaves turn golden in autamn.
a) autamn
b) golden
c) chestnut
d) cottage
Show answer
a) autamn. Autumn has the same u twice: in the au at the start and just before the m.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is the outer case of a sweet chestnut like?
a) a smooth red pod
b) a soft yellow skin
c) a thin paper wrapper
d) a spiky green case
Show answer
d) a spiky green case
2. Which colour name is closest to chestnut when it describes hair?
a) blonde
b) auburn
c) silver
d) jet black
Show answer
b) auburn
