Basic Details
Word: Compile
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: To collect information, items or pieces of work and put them together in a list, book or report.
Synonyms: collect, gather, assemble, put together
Antonyms: scatter, disperse
How to Spell Compile
Syllables: com - pile
Tricky part: One m and a silent e at the end; that e makes the i long. Students who hear the long i sometimes write compyle or compial.
Watch out for: compyle, compial, compiel
Memory tip: Compile ends just like smile and while, with -ile; the silent e is what lets the i say its name.
Usage Examples
Example 1: We had to compile a list of all the trees on our school campus.
Example 2: The class monitor will compile everyone's marks into one sheet.
Example 3: Reporters spent weeks compiling data on air quality in Delhi.
Fun Fact
Work on the Oxford English Dictionary began in 1857, and the first full edition was not finished until 1928, with volunteers posting in quotation slips to help compile it.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word compile as used in the sentence:
The students will compile a report on water use in their homes.
a) destroy
b) assemble
c) ignore
d) scatter
Show answer
b) assemble. To compile a report is to assemble it from many small pieces of information.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. compile 2. sumarise 3. analize 4. catalouge
a) a complete list of items, often with details
b) to give the main points briefly
c) to examine something in detail
d) to collect information and put it together
Show answer
d) to collect information and put it together. Corrected, the others become summarise, analyse (the British spelling) and catalogue, so compile was right all along.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Before the reunion, my aunt promised to compyle a booklet of old photographs and letters from all her classmates.
a) classmates
b) booklet
c) compyle
d) reunion
Show answer
c) compyle. The long i in compile is spelt with an i and a silent e, never a y.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What would help most to compile a list of class birthdays?
a) the class register
b) a paintbrush
c) a whistle
d) a compass
Show answer
a) the class register
2. Someone who compiles a book of poems usually ____.
a) binds its pages
b) gathers poems written by others
c) sells it in shops
d) draws all its pictures
Show answer
b) gathers poems written by others
