Basic Details
Word: Instrument
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A tool used for careful or exact work, such as a doctor's or scientist's tool, or an object played to make music.
Synonyms: tool, device, apparatus, implement
How to Spell Instrument
Syllables: in - stru - ment
Tricky part: The middle is stru with no c, unlike instruct. Students also turn the ending into mant or mint; it is ment.
Watch out for: instrumant, instrament, insturment
Memory tip: Say it in three beats, IN-stroo-ment, and write one plain chunk for each beat: in, stru, ment.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The sitar is a stringed instrument played across North India.
Example 2: The dentist laid out each shiny instrument on a steel tray.
Example 3: A barometer is an instrument that measures air pressure.
Fun Fact
Bronze surgical instruments, including probes and forceps, were found in the ruins of Pompeii, the Roman town buried by Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The tabla is a percussion tunsmenirt that is played as a pair of drums.
a) instalment
b) instrument
c) investment
d) increment
Show answer
b) instrument. The jumble has ten letters with two n's and two t's, and no v, c or l, so the other three are out.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letters to form a word:
ins_r_m_nt
a) t,u,a
b) t,u,e
c) t,a,e
d) d,u,e
Show answer
b) t,u,e. Sound it out slowly: in-s-t-r-u-m-e-n-t, with the e of ment at the end.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to instrument as used in the sentence:
The engineer checked the gas tank with a delicate instrument before anyone was allowed inside.
a) warning
b) device
c) worker
d) document
Show answer
b) device. Here instrument means a tool for exact work, which is a device.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. The flute, violin, tabla and sitar are all instruments. Which one is played by blowing?
a) violin
b) flute
c) sitar
d) tabla
Show answer
b) flute
2. A thermometer is an instrument for ____.
a) measuring distance
b) telling the time
c) weighing things
d) measuring temperature
Show answer
d) measuring temperature
