What does dwelling mean?
Word: Dwelling
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Dwelling means a building or shelter where a person or family lives. It is a formal word, found more in books and reports than in everyday talk.
Synonyms: home, house, residence
How do you spell dwelling?
Syllables: dwell - ing
Tricky part: The l is doubled in the middle; writing a single l is the usual slip.
Watch out for: dweling, dwellin
Memory tip: Picture two tall houses standing side by side on a street: they are the two l's in the middle of dwelling.
Dwelling in a sentence
Example 1: The Toda people of the Nilgiris build barrel-shaped dwellings from bamboo and cane.
Example 2: The report counted every dwelling on our street, from small flats to large bungalows.
Example 3: Some early people made their dwellings inside caves.
Fun Fact
Long ago the verb behind dwelling meant to delay or linger; the idea of staying on in one place slowly turned it into a word for living somewhere.
Practise the CREST Way
Spellacadabra
Choose the option in which the following letters will fit in the given order:
e, i
a) g__ll__p
b) b__ll__t
c) dw__ll__ng
d) c__ll__r
Show answer
c) dw__ll__ng. E and then i turn the first pattern into dwelling; gallop, ballet and collar need other vowels.
Jumble Tumble
What is the meaning of the word that can be formed from the given letters?
wlgnield
a) a place to live, from a cave or hut to a block of flats
b) a large building where aircraft are kept and repaired
c) a covered passage with rows of small shops on each side
d) a farm building where grain is stored after the harvest
Show answer
a) a place to live, from a cave or hut to a block of flats. Put in order, these letters give dwelling; hangar, granary and arcade are the other three definitions.
Word Tally
Give 2 marks for each correctly spelt word. How many marks will the list get?
dwelling, bungalow, igloo, mansoin, cabbin
a) 4
b) 6
c) 10
d) 8
Show answer
b) 6. Mansion ends in -sion and cabin has one b, so three words score: 3 x 2 = 6.
Word Champ
In which option are the given words arranged in alphabetical order?
1. dwelling 2. dwindle 3. dweller 4. dwell
a) 3412
b) 4312
c) 4321
d) 4132
Show answer
b) 4312. Dwell leads because it is the shortest; dweller beats dwelling because its sixth letter, e, comes before i; dwindle is last.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The herders carry their dwellings on camels when they move to new grazing land. What are they carrying?
a) their bags of grain
b) their folded tents
c) their cooking pots
d) their winter clothes
Show answer
b) their folded tents
2. Which of these could a writer call a dwelling?
a) a tree house where a family lives
b) a garage where a car is parked
c) a stall where vegetables are sold
d) a shed where tools are kept
Show answer
a) a tree house where a family lives
