What does irrigate mean?
Word: Irrigate
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Irrigate means to bring water to dry land or crops, usually through pipes or channels.
How do you spell irrigate?
Syllables: ir - ri - gate
Tricky part: One letter is doubled at the very start, and students often miss it and write irigate.
Watch out for: irigate, irrigait
Memory tip: Water runs along rows of crops to the river's edge: two rows, two r's.
Irrigate in a sentence
Example 1: Farmers in Punjab irrigate their wheat fields in the cool winter months.
Example 2: We irrigate the school vegetable patch with a thin black pipe.
Example 3: Without a pump, it is hard to irrigate fields on a hillside.
Fun Fact
The Kallanai on the Kaveri, built in the time of the Chola kings about 2,000 years ago, is still used to irrigate farmland in Tamil Nadu.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
gtraiier
a) irrigate
b) integrate
c) migrate
d) irritate
Show answer
a) irrigate. Two r's, one g and one t: irritate, migrate and integrate each break that count.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
irr_g_te
a) a, a
b) e, a
c) i, e
d) i, a
Show answer
d) i, a. The middle beat is a short i, and the ending is the ate of migrate.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
irrigatte
a) t
b) g
c) r
d) i
Show answer
a) t. Verbs in ate have a single t, as in create and donate.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) irrigate
b) agricultre
c) fertalise
d) harvist
Show answer
a) irrigate. The weak vowels cause the slips: harvest takes an e, fertilise an i, and agriculture needs its u back.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Why does a farmer in a dry area need to irrigate?
a) The soil there is too wet to plough
b) His seeds are too large for the field
c) His tractor will not start without it
d) Rain alone is not enough for his crops
Show answer
d) Rain alone is not enough for his crops
2. What could a farmer use to irrigate a field?
a) a canal from a nearby river
b) a net stretched over the crop
c) a shed for the farm tractor
d) a heap of dry wheat straw
Show answer
a) a canal from a nearby river
