What does gear mean?
Word: Gear
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Gear means a wheel with teeth around its edge that fits into another toothed wheel to make a machine, bicycle or car move. Gear also means the equipment you need for an activity.
Synonyms: equipment, kit
How do you spell gear?
Syllables: gear
Tricky part: The sound is like 'eer', but it is spelt with ea, not ee or ie.
Watch out for: geer, gier
Memory tip: Gears have teeth that bite into each other as if they eat: the vowel pair is the ea of eat.
Idioms and Phrases
- get into gear: to start working properly or with more energy Example: "The exams are next week, so I need to get into gear and revise."
Gear in a sentence
Example 1: My brother's new bicycle has twenty-one gears.
Example 2: Pack your swimming gear in a separate bag.
Example 3: The old clock stopped because one of its tiny gears was broken.
Fun Fact
The idiom 'get into gear' comes from driving: a car cannot move off until the driver puts it into gear.
Practise the CREST Way
Sound Check
Which word rhymes with the given word?
gear
a) wear
b) heard
c) pear
d) deer
Show answer
d) deer. Deer is spelt with eer, yet it has exactly the 'eer' sound of gear; pear and wear say 'air'.
Spell Spies
Choose the misspelt word/s in the given sentence:
Dhruv oiled the gears of his bike before the ride to the lake with his frends.
a) oiled and ride
b) frends and lake
c) only bike
d) only frends
Show answer
d) only frends. Friend has an i before the e: fr-i-e-n-d.
Word Fusion
Add the correct option to the following to make a new word:
gear______
a) box
b) bocks
c) bax
d) boks
Show answer
a) box. A gearbox holds the gears of a car, and box is spelt b-o-x.
Spellacadabra
From which option does a letter need to be removed to make a meaningful word?
a) bicycle
b) engine
c) geare
d) helmet
Show answer
c) geare. Gear stops at the r; the e tacked on after it has to go.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A cricketer's gear includes ________.
a) the umpire
b) the pitch
c) pads and gloves
d) the scoreboard
Show answer
c) pads and gloves
2. On a bicycle, which gear makes pedalling uphill easier?
a) a high gear
b) no gear at all
c) a low gear
d) the top gear
Show answer
c) a low gear
