What does embankment mean?
Word: Embankment
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Embankment means a long, high wall of earth or stone built to hold back water or to carry a road or railway.
Synonyms: bank, levee, causeway
How do you spell embankment?
Syllables: em - bank - ment
Tricky part: It starts em-, not en- or im-: an m comes before b, as in embroider.
Watch out for: enbankment, imbankment, embankmant
Memory tip: Picture a river bank with walls on both sides, and remember that m comes before b, as in embrace.
Embankment in a sentence
Example 1: The railway line runs along a high embankment beside the lake.
Example 2: Volunteers piled sandbags on the embankment as the river rose.
Example 3: Children flew kites from the grassy embankment on Sunday.
Fun Fact
The Victoria Embankment in London, built in the 1860s along the Thames, hides a main sewer and an underground railway beneath its road.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
embankement
a) n
b) k
c) m
d) e
Show answer
d) e. Bank takes -ment straight on, with no e in between.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word embankment as used in the sentence:
Floodwater broke through the embankment and covered the rice fields.
a) deep ditch
b) narrow lane
c) stone bridge
d) raised bank
Show answer
d) raised bank. An embankment is a long bank of earth built up to hold water back.
Mingle-Mangle
Unscramble the jumbled word in the sentence and choose the correct word:
Our school bus stopped on the namkbetmen to let a herd of buffaloes cross.
a) enchantment
b) embarrassment
c) embankment
d) embodiment
Show answer
c) embankment. Embarrassment and embodiment have a b but no k, and enchantment has neither, so the letters spell embankment.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. irigation 2. embankment 3. reservoyr 4. aquaduct
a) a large lake used to store water
b) a bridge that carries water across a valley
c) a long mound of earth by water or a railway
d) supplying water to land for crops
Show answer
c) a long mound of earth by water or a railway. Reservoyr has y where an i belongs, irigation is one r short, and aquaduct has a where an e belongs after the qu, so embankment is correct.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An embankment beside a railway line is built to ____.
a) store spare engines
b) send signals to drivers
c) lift the track above low ground
d) sell tickets to travellers
Show answer
c) lift the track above low ground
2. Where would you most likely see an embankment?
a) on the floor of a cave
b) in the middle of a desert
c) along the edge of a river
d) at the top of a tower
Show answer
c) along the edge of a river
