What does megaphone mean?
Word: Megaphone
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Megaphone means a cone-shaped device that you speak through to make your voice carry further, so that a big crowd can hear you.
Synonyms: loudhailer
How do you spell megaphone?
Syllables: meg - a - phone
Tricky part: The f sound is spelt ph, so megafone is a common slip.
Watch out for: megafone, meggaphone, megaphonne
Memory tip: Telephone, microphone and megaphone all carry sound, and all three spell the f sound with ph.
Megaphone in a sentence
Example 1: At the railway station, a guard with a megaphone called out the platform change.
Example 2: We rolled a large sheet of card into a megaphone for the school play.
Example 3: The cheerleader at the football match led the chants through a bright red megaphone.
Fun Fact
Before films had sound, directors often shouted instructions to actors through a megaphone, and for years it was the tool people pictured in a film director's hand.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
m_gaphon_
a) e, e
b) e, a
c) a, e
d) i, e
Show answer
a) e, e. The word starts me, and it closes with a silent e, just as phone does.
Mingle-Mangle
Rearrange the jumbled letters in the sentence to form the right word:
During the beach clean-up, our group leader called out each new task through a menoaehgp.
a) xylophone
b) saxophone
c) gramophone
d) megaphone
Show answer
d) megaphone. The jumble has a g but no r, x or y, which leaves megaphone.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
megaphoone
a) e
b) p
c) o
d) a
Show answer
c) o. Only one o comes before the n.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the one that is not.
1. megaphone 2. binoculars 3. periscop 4. telescope
a) a tube with mirrors for seeing over things or out of water
b) an instrument that makes far-off things look nearer
c) a cone that makes a voice carry further
d) a pair of lenses held up to both eyes
Show answer
a) a tube with mirrors for seeing over things or out of water. Periscope should finish with the silent e that telescope has.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A plain cardboard megaphone has no battery. How does it help a voice carry further?
a) It changes the voice into radio waves.
b) It funnels the sound forward instead of letting it spread out.
c) It stores the voice and plays it back louder.
d) It makes the speaker take deeper breaths.
Show answer
b) It funnels the sound forward instead of letting it spread out.
2. Who would find a megaphone most useful?
a) a pilot inside a quiet cockpit
b) a friend whispering a secret
c) a pupil reading quietly in the library
d) an announcer on a big sports field
Show answer
d) an announcer on a big sports field
