Basic Details
Word: Mammoth
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A large, hairy kind of elephant with long curved tusks that died out thousands of years ago. As an adjective, mammoth means huge.
Synonyms: huge, enormous, gigantic, massive
Antonyms: tiny, minute, small
Word origin: Came into English in the early 1700s from Russian mamont.
How to Spell Mammoth
Syllables: mam - moth
Tricky part: It starts with a double m, and the second part is moth, spelt like the insect, not mouth or math.
Watch out for: mamoth, mammouth, mammath
Memory tip: Two curled tusks, two m's in the middle: mam + moth. And picture a tiny moth landing on the giant beast's trunk.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Scientists found a frozen baby mammoth in the ice of Siberia.
Example 2: The museum's mammoth skeleton was taller than the ceiling of our classroom.
Example 3: The city has begun a mammoth project to bring piped water to every village in the district.
Fun Fact
A small group of woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island, off northern Siberia, until about 4,000 years ago, which is after the great pyramids of Giza were built.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to mammoth as used in the sentence:
Cleaning the school hall after the annual day function was a mammoth task for the ten volunteers.
a) gigantic
b) huge
c) tiny
d) enormous
Show answer
c) tiny. Mammoth here means huge, so tiny is its opposite; the other three are its synonyms.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
mammouth
a) o
b) m
c) h
d) u
Show answer
d) u. The last part of mammoth is moth, with no u.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. mamoth 2. glacier 3. dinosaur 4. fossil
a) a reptile that lived millions of years ago
b) a slow-moving mass of ice
c) the remains of an ancient plant or animal preserved in rock
d) a large hairy elephant that died out long ago
Show answer
d) a large hairy elephant that died out long ago. Mamoth is short of one m; the word has mm, mam-moth.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Used as an adjective, mammoth means ____.
a) very cold
b) very large
c) very hairy
d) very old
Show answer
b) very large
2. Woolly mammoths are most closely related to today's ____.
a) bears
b) bison
c) rhinos
d) elephants
Show answer
d) elephants
