Basic Details
Word: Headline
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: The title printed in large letters above a news story; also the main news items read out on radio or TV.
Synonyms: heading, title, caption
How to Spell Headline
Syllables: head - line
Tricky part: Head is spelt with ea even though it sounds like 'hed'. The second part is the ordinary word line, ending in e.
Watch out for: hedline, headlien, headlin
Memory tip: It is the line at the head of the page: head + line, two whole words joined with nothing taken away.
Idioms and Phrases
- hit the headlines: to become big news suddenly. Example: "The young chess player hit the headlines after beating a grandmaster."
Usage Examples
Example 1: The headline on the sports page read 'India Clinch Series in Chennai'.
Example 2: Dad reads only the headlines before he leaves for work.
Example 3: Our class wrote headlines for the school magazine, each under eight words.
Fun Fact
Newspaper headlines often drop small words like 'the' and 'is' to save space, which is why they read like 'Floods Hit Assam'.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) earthqauke
b) headline
c) nightmear
d) fierworks
Show answer
b) headline. Headline joins head and line; the others should be nightmare, fireworks and earthquake.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The morning paper carried a large hedline about the new metro line, and almost every commuter at the station seemed to be reading it.
a) morning
b) commuter
c) hedline
d) station
Show answer
c) hedline. The first half is head, with ea, even though you hear only 'hed'.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word headline as used in the sentence:
The headline of the article was so dull that hardly anyone read the story beneath it.
a) paragraph
b) heading
c) footnote
d) index
Show answer
b) heading. A headline is the heading of a news story; a footnote sits at the bottom instead.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Where on a newspaper page would you find a headline?
a) above the story
b) beside the page number
c) in the crossword
d) at the end of the story
Show answer
a) above the story
2. If a story 'hits the headlines', it ____.
a) is very short
b) becomes big news
c) is cancelled
d) is printed with a mistake
Show answer
b) becomes big news
