What does gooseberry mean?
Word: Gooseberry
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Gooseberry means a small, round green fruit that grows on a low bush.
How do you spell gooseberry?
Syllables: goose - ber - ry
Tricky part: The e after the s is silent, and it is the letter most often dropped when the word is said quickly.
Watch out for: goosberry, goosebery
Memory tip: Think of that e as a shy letter hiding among the leaves of the bush: you cannot hear it, but it is there.
Gooseberry in a sentence
Example 1: Nani makes a gooseberry chutney that we eat with hot rotis.
Example 2: The gooseberry bushes in the hill garden are heavy with fruit this June.
Example 3: Our science teacher cut a gooseberry open to show us the tiny seeds inside.
Fun Fact
In India the green fruit amla is known in English as the Indian gooseberry, although it is not closely related to the European plant.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) sugercane
b) watermellon
c) gooseberry
d) pinapple
Show answer
c) gooseberry. Watermelon has one l, pineapple has an e after the n, and sugarcane has an a before the r.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ybgoerroes
a) blackberry
b) strawberry
c) raspberry
d) gooseberry
Show answer
d) gooseberry. The g and the two o's settle it: no other fruit here contains them.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
go_seb_rry
a) a, e
b) u, e
c) o, a
d) o, e
Show answer
d) o, e. The start is spelt like the bird, and the next vowel is the one in berry.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Grandmother stirred a spoon of gooseberrie jam into the warm semolina pudding.
a) gooseberrie
b) pudding
c) stirred
d) spoon
Show answer
a) gooseberrie. Like cherry, this singular noun ends in a plain y.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Why do cooks often add sugar when making jam from gooseberries?
a) The fruit has too many seeds
b) The skin melts too slowly
c) The fruit is too large to cook
d) The raw fruit tastes rather sour
Show answer
d) The raw fruit tastes rather sour
2. Which fruit is the closest plant relative of a gooseberry?
a) a blackcurrant
b) a coconut
c) a mango
d) a banana
Show answer
a) a blackcurrant
