What does contentious mean?
Word: Contentious
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Contentious means likely to cause people to disagree strongly.
How do you spell contentious?
Syllables: con - ten - tious
Tricky part: The sh sound near the end is spelt with a t, not a c or an s, so pupils often go wrong just before ious.
Watch out for: contencious, contensious
Memory tip: Contention, the noun from the same family, keeps that t too.
Contentious in a sentence
Example 1: The new bus route became a contentious topic at the residents' meeting.
Example 2: Whether to hold sports day in May was the most contentious point of the evening.
Example 3: Our debate team chose a contentious motion on school uniforms.
Fun Fact
The Latin verb behind it meant to stretch or strain, so the word pictures two sides pulling hard against each other.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
One of these words is misspelt. Choose what it means.
1. pamflet 2. contentious 3. thesaurus 4. asteroid
a) bound to spark an argument
b) a book of words grouped by meaning
c) a rocky body that travels round the Sun
d) a thin printed booklet on one subject
Show answer
d) a thin printed booklet on one subject. That f sound is spelt ph, so pamflet is wrong.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word contentious as used in the sentence:
Moving the annual fair to the river bank proved a contentious decision.
a) controversial
b) pleasant
c) sudden
d) recent
Show answer
a) controversial. A controversial decision is one that people argue over.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters to find the word that fits the sentence:
Changing the school timetable turned out to be a unntcsoetoi subject among the parents.
a) contentious
b) continuous
c) conscientious
d) contemptuous
Show answer
a) contentious. Eleven letters with no m or p: only one option matches.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
c_nt_ntious
a) a,e
b) o,i
c) o,e
d) o,a
Show answer
c) o,e. The word opens like contest, and its stressed middle syllable is the number ten.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which question at a school meeting would be most contentious?
a) What time does the meeting finish today?
b) Where is the nearest water cooler?
c) Should the holidays be cut by two weeks?
d) Who will hand out the printed agenda?
Show answer
c) Should the holidays be cut by two weeks?
2. When a speaker calls a plan contentious, you should expect
a) the plan to be finished soon
b) everyone to accept it at once
c) many people to speak against it
d) the plan to cost very little
Show answer
c) many people to speak against it
