What does earth mean?
Word: Earth
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Earth means the planet we live on. With a small e, earth also means the soil in which plants grow.
Synonyms: soil
How do you spell earth?
Syllables: earth
Tricky part: The ear part sounds like the ur in fur, so children write urth or erth.
Watch out for: urth, eirth, eath
Memory tip: Put your ear to the ground and listen to the earth. Ear plus th spells it.
Idioms and Phrases
- down to earth: Simple, practical and friendly, not showing off. Example: "Even after winning the medal, the athlete was down to earth and chatted with us."
Earth in a sentence
Example 1: The Earth goes round the Sun once a year.
Example 2: The gardener pressed the seeds into the soft earth.
Example 3: About seventy per cent of the Earth's surface is covered by water.
Fun Fact
Earth is the only planet in our solar system whose English name does not come from a Greek or Roman god.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) satalite
b) univerce
c) astronot
d) earth
Show answer
d) earth. Earth is the only space word here spelt right: astronaut ends in -naut, universe in -se and satellite has a double l.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
earth
a) world
b) ocean
c) comet
d) cloud
Show answer
a) world. The Earth is our world, the planet everyone lives on; the other three are things on it or in the sky.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The moon takes about a munth to travel once around the earth.
a) travel
b) earth
c) munth
d) moon
Show answer
c) munth. Month is spelt with an o; moon, travel and earth are all right.
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) earthwerm
b) earthwarm
c) earthworm
d) earthwurm
Show answer
c) earthworm. The second half is worm, with an o, so the compound is earthworm, the worm that lives in soil.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which planet is closer to the Sun than Earth?
a) Venus
b) Mars
c) Jupiter
d) Saturn
Show answer
a) Venus
2. In which sentence does earth mean soil?
a) Fill the pot with damp earth before you sow the seed.
b) Astronauts can see the Earth from space.
c) The Earth spins round once every day.
d) The Earth is the third planet from the Sun.
Show answer
a) Fill the pot with damp earth before you sow the seed.
