What does jellyfish mean?
Word: Jellyfish
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Jellyfish means a sea animal with a soft, see-through body shaped like an umbrella and long, thin parts hanging down that can sting.
How do you spell jellyfish?
Syllables: jel - ly - fish
Tricky part: Keep both l's and the y in the first part of this compound. Children often drop an l or write i in place of the y.
Watch out for: jelyfish, jellifish, jelly fish
Memory tip: Imagine two tall l's wobbling like a pudding, with a y dangling underneath like a sting.
Jellyfish in a sentence
Example 1: A jellyfish drifted past the boat, glowing pale pink in the water.
Example 2: The lifeguard put up a flag to warn swimmers about jellyfish.
Example 3: In the aquarium, the jellyfish moved by opening and closing their bodies like umbrellas.
Fun Fact
Jellyfish have drifted through the oceans for hundreds of millions of years, since long before the first dinosaurs.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the correctly spelt compound word:
a) seahors
b) shelfish
c) jellyfish
d) starrfish
Show answer
c) jellyfish. Starfish has one r, seahorse ends in an e and shellfish needs a double l.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
j_llyf_sh
a) e, i
b) i, i
c) e, e
d) a, i
Show answer
a) e, i. Jelly begins je, and the ordinary word fish has an i.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
shyfeljil
a) shellfish
b) jellyfish
c) jellied
d) selfish
Show answer
b) jellyfish. Shellfish has no j or y, selfish is too short, and jellied needs a d.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
A jellyfish floated past us, its long tentickles trailing in the water.
a) tentickles
b) trailing
c) water
d) floated
Show answer
a) tentickles. Tentacles ends in cles, like the end of bicycles.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A jellyfish's body is mostly made of ____.
a) water
b) fat
c) bone
d) shell
Show answer
a) water
2. Why is the name jellyfish a little misleading?
a) It has hard scales.
b) It lives only in rivers.
c) It is made of real jelly.
d) It is not really a fish.
Show answer
d) It is not really a fish.
