What does gourd mean?
Word: Gourd
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Gourd means a large fruit with a hard skin. Some kinds are cooked as vegetables, and others are dried and used as containers.
How do you spell gourd?
Syllables: gourd
Tricky part: Whichever of its two British pronunciations you use, the vowel is written ou. Spelling by ear gives gord, and that is the common slip.
Watch out for: gord, goard
Memory tip: Picture four gourds on a shelf. The words four and gourd use the same pair of vowels, in the same order.
Gourd in a sentence
Example 1: The traveller filled a dried gourd with water at the well.
Example 2: Mum cooked bottle gourd with lentils for dinner.
Example 3: A painted gourd hung on the wall of the village craft shop.
Fun Fact
People have grown bottle gourds for thousands of years, which makes them one of the oldest crops we know of.
Practise the CREST Way
Jumble Tumble
Choose the correct sequence of the jumbled letters to form a meaningful word:
rgduo 12345
a) 52413
b) 21543
c) 25431
d) 25413
Show answer
d) 25413. Read the letters in this digit order to build the five-letter fruit.
Sound Check
In which word is 'g' pronounced differently?
a) gourd
b) garden
c) giraffe
d) gravy
Show answer
c) giraffe. Giraffe starts with a soft j sound; the rest start with a hard g.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with their meanings:
1. gourd 2. ladle 3. sieve a. a long-handled spoon for serving soup b. a tool with a mesh for straining c. a hard-skinned fruit that grows on a trailing vine
a) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
b) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
c) 1-c, 2-b, 3-a
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
Show answer
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b. The vine fruit is the gourd, the serving spoon is the ladle and the mesh tool is the sieve.
Word Tally
How many of these words are spelt correctly?
gourd, pumkin, melon, cucumber, squash, turnep
a) 3
b) 6
c) 5
d) 4
Show answer
d) 4. Pumpkin and turnip are misspelt, which leaves four correct words.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What must be done to a dried gourd before it can carry water?
a) boil it in a big pot
b) leave it out in the rain
c) cut it open and empty it
d) paint it a bright colour
Show answer
c) cut it open and empty it
2. Which of these instruments were first made from dried gourds filled with seeds?
a) the maracas
b) the harmonium
c) the flute
d) the trumpet
Show answer
a) the maracas
