What does ingenuity mean?
Word: Ingenuity
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Ingenuity means the skill of coming up with smart new ways to solve problems or make things.
How do you spell ingenuity?
Syllables: in - ge - nu - i - ty
Tricky part: Students often get the middle in the wrong order and write ingeniuty. The u comes before the i.
Watch out for: ingeniuty, ingenuety
Memory tip: Stress the third beat, in-ge-NEW-i-ty: that NEW sound is your u, and it comes before the i.
Ingenuity in a sentence
Example 1: With a little ingenuity, Chloe turned an old shoebox into a pencil stand.
Example 2: The village used great ingenuity to store rainwater for the dry months.
Example 3: Our team's ingenuity won us first prize at the science fair.
Fun Fact
Ingenuity was the name of the small NASA helicopter that flew on Mars in 2021, the first powered flight on another planet.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
ing_nuit_
a) e, y
b) i, y
c) a, y
d) e, i
Show answer
a) e, y. The second beat has a short e, and the word ends in the same y as in city.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
tygineniu
a) ingenuity
b) ingenious
c) integrity
d) indignity
Show answer
a) ingenuity. The jumble has no r, d or o, so integrity, indignity and ingenious drop out.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word: ingenuity
a) clumsiness
b) shyness
c) stubbornness
d) cleverness
Show answer
d) cleverness. A clever mind and an inventive one go together.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) creativety
b) imagenation
c) curiousity
d) ingenuity
Show answer
d) ingenuity. The trap in curiousity catches adults too: curiosity loses the u. Creativety and imagenation each have one wrong vowel.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these best shows ingenuity?
a) drawing a bird from a photograph
b) buying a bird feeder from a shop
c) making a bird feeder from an old bottle
d) counting birds in the park
Show answer
c) making a bird feeder from an old bottle
2. Ingenuity is a noun. Which sentence uses it correctly?
a) The ingenuity boy built a robot at home.
b) We ingenuity the puzzle before lunch.
c) He ingenuity fixed the fan in a minute.
d) Her ingenuity helped the team build the bridge.
Show answer
d) Her ingenuity helped the team build the bridge.
