What does headmaster mean?
Word: Headmaster
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Headmaster means a man who is in charge of a school. A woman in the same job is a headmistress, and many schools now say head teacher.
Synonyms: head teacher
How do you spell headmaster?
Syllables: head - mas - ter
Tricky part: The first part is head, with ea as in bread; spelling it by sound gives hed.
Watch out for: hedmaster, heddmaster
Memory tip: The headmaster is at the head of the school, and head keeps its ea, just like bread and spread.
Headmaster in a sentence
Example 1: Our headmaster greets every pupil at the gate in the morning.
Example 2: The headmaster announced that the school would plant a hundred trees.
Example 3: My grandfather was the headmaster of a village school in Kerala for twenty years.
Fun Fact
Perhaps the best-known headmaster in children's books is Albus Dumbledore, head of Hogwarts in the Harry Potter stories.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
headmaster
a) warden
b) principal
c) prefect
d) monitor
Show answer
b) principal. The principal is the person in charge of a school, the same job as a headmaster.
Word Makeup
Only one of these compound words is spelt correctly. Choose it:
a) blackbord
b) clasroom
c) headmaster
d) playgraund
Show answer
c) headmaster. Classroom has two s's, blackboard has oa, and playground has ou.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
headmasster
a) m
b) s
c) a
d) t
Show answer
b) s. Only one s sits in the middle; the doubled s is the slip.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) headmastor
b) assembly
c) uniform
d) timetable
Show answer
a) headmastor. The ending is er, the same as in teacher and painter.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A headmaster's main job is to ____.
a) cook lunch in the school canteen
b) drive the school bus each morning
c) run the school and lead its teachers
d) teach only one class all day
Show answer
c) run the school and lead its teachers
2. What does a headmaster usually sign?
a) pupils' end-of-year reports
b) passengers' boarding passes
c) customers' restaurant bills
d) doctors' prescriptions
Show answer
a) pupils' end-of-year reports
