What does contraption mean?
Word: Contraption
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Contraption means a machine or device that looks odd or complicated and may not work very well.
Word origin: Its origin is not certain. It first appeared in English in the early 1800s and may have grown out of the word contrive.
How do you spell contraption?
Syllables: con - trap - tion
Tricky part: The end sounds like shun, which tempts spellers to write contrapshun or contrapsion. The ending is tion.
Watch out for: contrapshun, contrapsion
Memory tip: Every contraption began as somebody's invention, and the two words close with the same four letters.
Contraption in a sentence
Example 1: My brother's contraption of rubber bands and ice-cream sticks can flick a paper ball across the room.
Example 2: Dadaji calls his old scooter a noisy contraption, yet he rides it every morning.
Example 3: Our science club built a contraption that waters the plants when the soil gets dry.
Fun Fact
The British cartoonist William Heath Robinson became famous for drawing absurdly complicated contraptions, and his name is still used in Britain for any such machine.
Practise the CREST Way
Spellacadabra
Choose the correct option to make a meaningful word:
contr__tion
a) ep
b) ip
c) op
d) ap
Show answer
d) ap. The stressed middle syllable is spelt ap, with the vowel of cap.
Word Twins
Choose the correct option to fill both blanks:
1. Ravi rigged up a strange ___ of pulleys and string that opens the window from his bed. 2. The word can't is a ___ of cannot.
a) contraption/contraction
b) 'contraption' in both
c) 'contraction' in both
d) contraction/contraption
Show answer
a) contraption/contraction. A home-made gadget suits the first sentence, and a shortened word form suits the second.
Sound Check
In which word is 'con' pronounced differently?
a) control
b) contraption
c) constant
d) contain
Show answer
c) constant. Constant stresses this syllable and uses the vowel of hot; the others keep it weak and quick.
Word Tally
Give 3 marks for each misspelt word. How many marks in all?
contraption, gadjet, machinery, apparatus, mechanisum
a) 6
b) 3
c) 12
d) 9
Show answer
a) 6. Gadget needs a g before the e and mechanism has no u, so two words are wrong, giving 6 marks.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these could fairly be called a contraption?
a) a plain steel spoon from the kitchen
b) a new pencil from the stationery shop
c) a wooden ruler from a geometry box
d) a home-made fan run by a bicycle wheel
Show answer
d) a home-made fan run by a bicycle wheel
2. A person who calls a machine a contraption is probably ___ it.
a) a little doubtful about
b) deeply impressed by
c) quite jealous of
d) very proud of
Show answer
a) a little doubtful about
