What does heifer mean?
Word: Heifer
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Heifer means a young cow that has not yet had a calf.
How do you spell heifer?
Syllables: heif - er
Tricky part: The short e sound is spelt with two vowels, ei. Pupils who go by ear write hefer, and others swap the pair to ie.
Watch out for: hefer, hiefer
Memory tip: Make up a farm sentence: He, I know, feeds the calves. He and I run together at the start.
Heifer in a sentence
Example 1: The farmer bought a young heifer from the market in Anand.
Example 2: A heifer usually gives no milk until she has her first calf.
Example 3: The brown heifer stood quietly at the gate, waiting for her feed.
Fun Fact
Word experts still cannot say for sure where heifer came from, though it was already in use in Old English more than a thousand years ago.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
heiffer
a) e
b) h
c) f
d) r
Show answer
c) f. The f is not doubled in this word.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
At the village dairy fair, the judges spent a long time checking the healthy brown heifar that Ramu's family had raised on their small farm.
a) judges
b) dairy
c) healthy
d) heifar
Show answer
d) heifar. The ending is er, as in farmer.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The vet said the young efirhe would soon be ready to join the herd.
a) hiker
b) header
c) heifer
d) helper
Show answer
c) heifer. Six letters with an f and two e's, and no l, p, d or k.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. heifer 2. gander 3. stallian 4. ewe
a) an adult male horse
b) a young female farm animal
c) a male goose
d) a female sheep
Show answer
a) an adult male horse. Stallion ends in ion, as million does.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which group of farm animals does a heifer belong to?
a) goats
b) horses
c) cattle
d) sheep
Show answer
c) cattle
2. Which farm is most likely to rear young animals of this kind?
a) a poultry farm
b) a tea estate
c) a fish farm
d) a dairy farm
Show answer
d) a dairy farm
