What does combustible mean?
Word: Combustible
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Combustible means able to catch fire and burn easily.
How do you spell combustible?
Syllables: com - bus - ti - ble
Tricky part: The ending is ible, not able. The two endings sound alike, so the ear cannot help you here.
Watch out for: combustable, combusteble
Memory tip: Flames are visible, and visible has the same ending as this word.
Combustible in a sentence
Example 1: Coal, wood and paper are all combustible materials.
Example 2: The lab teacher keeps combustible liquids in a locked steel cupboard.
Example 3: Dry straw is combustible, so farmers store it away from the kitchen.
Fun Fact
Even diamond is combustible, as it is made of carbon. In the 1770s the French chemist Antoine Lavoisier used a large lens to focus sunlight on a diamond and showed that burning it gives off the gas we now call carbon dioxide.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose its meaning:
1. pennisula 2. archipellago 3. combustible 4. entreprenur
a) land with water on three sides
b) a person who starts a business
c) likely to go up in flames
d) a large group of islands
Show answer
c) likely to go up in flames. Entrepreneur, archipelago and peninsula each have a letter wrong or out of place here; combustible has none.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word combustible as used in the sentence:
Dry coconut husk is highly combustible, so villagers use it to light the kitchen fire.
a) flammable
b) fireproof
c) inflammable
d) fiery
Show answer
b) fireproof. Fireproof things will not burn, and the other three are all about catching fire.
Mingle-Mangle
The sentence hides a jumbled word. Choose the word:
Keep any ebuibcsmlot material, such as old newspapers, well away from the stove.
a) combustible
b) comfortable
c) commendable
d) compatible
Show answer
a) combustible. Only one option has both a u and an s.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Before the science fair began, our teacher reminded us that a conbustible substance must always be stored far from any open flame in the laboratory.
a) conbustible
b) laboratory
c) substance
d) reminded
Show answer
a) conbustible. The letter before the b should be an m.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these materials is the least likely to be labelled combustible?
a) petrol
b) granite
c) cardboard
d) dry leaves
Show answer
b) granite
2. In a school store, what is the safest place for something combustible?
a) a shelf just above the gas burners
b) a sunny window sill in the lab
c) the box beside the electric heater
d) a cool, closed room away from any heat
Show answer
d) a cool, closed room away from any heat
