What does inconsistency mean?
Word: Inconsistency
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Inconsistency means the fact of not staying the same, or of two things not agreeing with each other.
Synonyms: unevenness, discrepancy, unreliability
Antonyms: consistency, constancy, uniformity
How do you spell inconsistency?
Syllables: in - con - sis - ten - cy
Tricky part: The ending is -ency, not -ancy: the e of consistent carries straight through.
Watch out for: inconsistancy, inconsistensy, inconsistencey
Memory tip: Consistent people stick to things, and so does the e: consistent, consistency and inconsistency all keep it.
Inconsistency in a sentence
Example 1: Inconsistency in her practice hours kept Elena from improving at the violin.
Example 2: Our teacher spotted an inconsistency between the date on the poster and the date on the invitation.
Example 3: There is some inconsistency in the way the shop charges for delivery.
Fun Fact
In maths, a set of equations with no shared answer is called inconsistent, because no single set of values can make all of them true at once.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The coach was worried by the inconcistency of the team's fielding during the summer tournament.
a) fielding
b) worried
c) tournament
d) inconcistency
Show answer
d) inconcistency. After con the hissing sound is spelt with an s, as in consist.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word inconsistency as used in the sentence:
The teacher pointed out an inconsistency between the dates in Oliver's two history answers.
a) agreement
b) contradiction
c) summary
d) similarity
Show answer
b) contradiction. Two dates that do not match contradict each other; agreement means they match.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is not. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. improvment 2. reliable 3. inconsistency 4. performance
a) how well someone does a task
b) the act of getting better
c) able to be trusted every time
d) a failure to stay the same
Show answer
b) the act of getting better. Improvment has lost a vowel just before its -ment; reliable, performance and inconsistency are spelt correctly.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Rhea's report card showed a puzzling ocienisnntcsy between her maths marks and her science marks.
a) insistence
b) inconsistency
c) consistency
d) inconsistent
Show answer
b) inconsistency. A noun is needed after a puzzling, which rules out inconsistent, and consistency and insistence are too short.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A batsman criticised for inconsistency is one who ____.
a) scores well one day and badly the next
b) always scores a century in every match
c) bats only on his home grounds
d) never plays in the really big matches
Show answer
a) scores well one day and badly the next
2. Which of these is an inconsistency in a story?
a) a hero with three younger sisters
b) eyes brown on page one, blue on page two
c) a girl who walks to school each day
d) a story that ends with a wedding
Show answer
b) eyes brown on page one, blue on page two
