What does cracker mean?
Word: Cracker
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Cracker means a thin, crisp biscuit, often salty. In India, a cracker is also a firework that bursts with a loud bang.
Synonyms: biscuit, firework
How do you spell cracker?
Syllables: crack - er
Tricky part: The k sound after the short a is spelt ck. Craker, with a lone k, is the most common slip.
Watch out for: craker, crakker, cracer
Memory tip: Crackers crack. Hear the crack first, keep its ck, and then er follows.
Cracker in a sentence
Example 1: Grandpa likes a salty cracker with his evening tea.
Example 2: Our colony decided to celebrate Diwali with lamps instead of loud crackers.
Example 3: The puppy hid under the bed when the first cracker went off.
Fun Fact
The Christmas cracker was dreamt up by a London sweet-maker, Tom Smith, in the 1840s; the snap that goes off when two people pull it was added some years later.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
On the long train ride to Shimla, Nana opened a packet and gave each of us a crackar with a slice of cheese, which kept us going until lunch.
a) cheese
b) crackar
c) packet
d) train
Show answer
b) crackar. The ending is er, as in baker and sticker.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
After school, Ammi gave each of us a salty ckcrrea and a glass of lassi.
a) crackle
b) tracker
c) cracker
d) racket
Show answer
c) cracker. A salty snack with lassi is a cracker; tracker would need a t and crackle an l.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. rockit 2. lanturn 3. cracker 4. sparkeler
a) a lamp in a case that protects its flame
b) a firework that bursts with a loud bang, or a thin crisp biscuit
c) a firework that shoots high into the sky before bursting
d) a hand-held firework that gives off bright sparks
Show answer
b) a firework that bursts with a loud bang, or a thin crisp biscuit. Sparkler has no e before the l, rocket ends in et and lantern in ern, so cracker is the only correct spelling.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In Britain, a cracker pulled at Christmas usually holds ____.
a) a letter from Father Christmas
b) a sparkler and a box of matches
c) a slice of fruit cake
d) a paper hat, a joke and a small toy
Show answer
d) a paper hat, a joke and a small toy
2. You can eat only one of these. Which one?
a) a nutcracker
b) a cream cracker
c) a firecracker
d) a wisecrack
Show answer
b) a cream cracker
