Basic Details
Word: Coward
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A person who is not brave and runs away from danger or from something difficult.
Synonyms: scaredy-cat, chicken
Antonyms: hero
Sounds like: cowered (crouched down or shrank back in fear)
How to Spell Coward
Syllables: cow - ard
Tricky part: The ending is ard, not erd or ed. Students who think of cower write cowerd.
Watch out for: cowerd, cowad, cowart
Memory tip: A cow and a lizard? Take cow and the end of lizard, ard: cow-ard.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Only a coward would leave a friend alone in danger.
Example 2: Nobody likes to be called a coward, yet admitting you are scared takes courage too.
Example 3: He called himself a coward for not speaking up in class.
Fun Fact
Coward comes from Old French couard, from a word for tail, perhaps from the picture of an animal running with its tail between its legs.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is not. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. traitor 2. villain 3. warrior 4. cowerd
a) a person who betrays their friends or country
b) the wicked character in a story
c) a person who lacks courage
d) a brave fighter
Show answer
c) a person who lacks courage. Cowerd is the misspelt one; the word ends in ard.
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to coward as used in the sentence:
The villagers had called him a coward, but on the night of the flood he rowed out alone to save three children.
a) chicken
b) weakling
c) hero
d) quitter
Show answer
c) hero. A coward runs from danger, and a hero faces it.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The rcawod hid behind the door while his little sister chased the snake away.
a) coward
b) cowered
c) toward
d) cowherd
Show answer
a) coward. Toward would need a t, and cowherd and cowered have more than six letters, which leaves coward.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word is a near sound-alike of coward that means crouched in fear?
a) covered
b) towered
c) cowered
d) cowboy
Show answer
c) cowered
2. A coward is someone who lacks ____.
a) courage
b) friends
c) money
d) height
Show answer
a) courage
