What does colander mean?
Word: Colander
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Colander means a bowl with many small holes, used in the kitchen to drain water from food such as rice, pasta or washed vegetables.
Synonyms: strainer, sieve
How do you spell colander?
Syllables: col - an - der
Tricky part: The vowels run o, a, e, and the middle is an: do not write colendar or colandar.
Watch out for: colendar, colandar, colandre
Memory tip: Say the middle beat clearly as an, like the an of pan: the rice goes from the pan into the colander.
Colander in a sentence
Example 1: Nani soaks the chana overnight and drains it in a colander in the morning.
Example 2: A steel colander hangs on a hook near our kitchen sink.
Example 3: We washed the strawberries in a colander under the tap.
Fun Fact
Colander comes from the Latin word colare, meaning to strain, the same root that gives us the word percolate.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Twins
Choose the correct option to fill the blanks:
1. Mumma drained the boiled pasta in a ___. 2. I marked the date of the science fair on the ___.
a) colander/calendar
b) calendar/colander
c) 'calendar' in both
d) 'colander' in both
Show answer
a) colander/calendar. Draining food needs the colander from the kitchen; dates are marked on a calendar.
Jumble Tumble
Which option has letters that you can rearrange to form the name of a thing you find in the kitchen?
a) lancoder
b) tlekta
c) wolbg
d) nopsoe
Show answer
a) lancoder. Lancoder rearranges into colander; the others have a wrong or extra letter for spoon, kettle and bowl.
Spell Spies
Choose the misspelt word/s in the given sentence:
Rinse the dal twice in a collander before you add it to the boiling water.
a) only collander
b) only rinse
c) collander and rinse
d) boiling and water
Show answer
a) only collander. Colander has only one l, unlike collar.
Word Tally
Give 2 marks for each correctly spelt word. How many marks will the list get?
colander, saucepan, ladel, spatula, wisk
a) 4
b) 10
c) 6
d) 8
Show answer
c) 6. Ladle ends in -dle and whisk has an h, so only colander, saucepan and spatula score.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these jobs is a colander NOT used for?
a) rinsing grapes
b) boiling milk
c) washing rice
d) draining pasta
Show answer
b) boiling milk
2. Which of these could you put in a colander to wash?
a) a spoon of sugar
b) a glass of juice
c) a bunch of grapes
d) a cup of tea
Show answer
c) a bunch of grapes
