What does eyewitness mean?
Word: Eyewitness
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Eyewitness means a person who saw something happen with their own eyes and can describe it.
Synonyms: witness, observer, bystander
How do you spell eyewitness?
Syllables: eye - wit - ness
Tricky part: It is eye + witness written as one word, and witness ends in a double s.
Watch out for: eyewitnes, iwitness, eyewitniss
Memory tip: Say 'yes, yes, I saw it': let those two yeses remind you of the two s's at the end of witness.
Eyewitness in a sentence
Example 1: An eyewitness described how the kite got stuck on the school roof.
Example 2: The newspaper printed an eyewitness account of the rocket launch at Sriharikota.
Example 3: Several eyewitnesses said the comet glowed green above the hills.
Fun Fact
Eyewitness has been part of English since the 1500s. Newspapers often head a report 'eyewitness account' when the writer saw the event for themselves instead of hearing about it from others.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) wheelchare
b) headquaters
c) eyewitness
d) grandaughter
Show answer
c) eyewitness. Headquarters needs an r after the a, wheelchair ends in chair, and granddaughter keeps the d of grand.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
eyewittness
a) s
b) w
c) e
d) t
Show answer
d) t. Witness takes a single t, as in wit.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
eyewitness
a) organiser
b) onlooker
c) competitor
d) speaker
Show answer
b) onlooker. An onlooker watches something happen, just as an eyewitness does.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
nsyeetwise
a) witnesses
b) eyewitness
c) sweetness
d) wilderness
Show answer
b) eyewitness. Sweetness and witnesses have no y, and wilderness needs an l, a d and an r; only eyewitness uses all ten letters.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Why does a reporter want to talk to eyewitnesses after a big event?
a) they can fix the stage lights
b) they write for another paper
c) they paid for the event tickets
d) they saw what really happened
Show answer
d) they saw what really happened
2. Which person is NOT an eyewitness to a goal in a match?
a) a fan who read about it later
b) the referee on the pitch
c) the goalkeeper who let it in
d) a fan sitting behind the goal
Show answer
a) a fan who read about it later
