What does leach mean?
Word: Leach
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Of water or another liquid: to pass through soil or another material and wash chemicals or goodness out of it.
Synonyms: drain, seep, wash out
Sounds like: leech (a small worm that sucks blood)
How do you spell leach?
Syllables: leach
Tricky part: It is spelt with ea, not ee. Leech, with ee, is a small worm that sucks blood, so mixing them up changes the meaning.
Watch out for: leache, liech, laech
Memory tip: Leach has the ea of earth and sea, the places where water washes things away. The leech, the creature, takes the ee.
Leach in a sentence
Example 1: If you boil spinach too long, some vitamins leach into the water.
Example 2: Old iron pipes can leach rust into the water supply.
Example 3: Too much rain can leach the minerals out of sandy soil near the coast.
Fun Fact
Gardeners sometimes leach a potted plant on purpose, pouring plenty of water through the soil to wash out salts that have built up.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Puzzle
Match each word with its meaning:
1. leach 2. peach 3. lease a. a soft round fruit with a furry skin b. to drain chemicals out of soil c. to rent out a house for a fixed time
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
b) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
c) 1-a, 2-c, 3-b
d) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
Show answer
b) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c. One letter changes everything: leach is about water and soil, peach is a fruit, lease is about renting.
Spellacadabra
Choose the misspelt word:
a) moisture
b) mineral
c) fertile
d) leatch
Show answer
d) leatch. There is no t in leach: the ch follows the ea straight away.
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) harvest
b) nutrient
c) irigation
d) leach
Show answer
c) irigation. Irrigation needs a double r, as in irregular.
Spell Probe
Choose the meaning of the misspelt word in the given sentence:
Heavy rain can leach goodness out of the soil, so the farmer spread fresh compust on his fields before sowing.
a) rotted plants and food waste added to soil
b) the top layer of earth in which plants grow
c) areas of land used for growing crops
d) putting seeds in the ground
Show answer
a) rotted plants and food waste added to soil. Compust is the slip; compost has an o after the p.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which is most likely to leach out of the soil in heavy rain?
a) stones
b) bricks
c) tree roots
d) fertiliser
Show answer
d) fertiliser
2. Which of these can leach colour into the wash?
a) a dry towel on the line
b) a folded shirt in a drawer
c) a new red T-shirt in hot water
d) a pair of shoes on a rack
Show answer
c) a new red T-shirt in hot water
