What does menagerie mean?
Word: Menagerie
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Menagerie means a collection of wild animals kept in one place so that people can see them.
How do you spell menagerie?
Syllables: me - nag - er - ie
Tricky part: The ending is ie, not y. Pupils who write it as it sounds put menagery.
Watch out for: menagery, menagerey
Memory tip: Prairie and menagerie both came from French, and both keep the ie.
Menagerie in a sentence
Example 1: The children's book describes a travelling menagerie of elephants and monkeys.
Example 2: Our history book mentions a prince whose menagerie included lions from Gujarat.
Example 3: The author's next story follows a small menagerie on a long sea voyage.
Fun Fact
The Tower of London kept a royal menagerie for about six hundred years. Its lions and other animals were moved out in the 1830s.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
m_n_gerie
a) e, e
b) a, a
c) e, a
d) a, e
Show answer
c) e, a. The vowels run e, then a: the word does not start like man.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The king's menagerie drew curious visitors from distant villages, who queued pateintly outside the palace gates for a glimpse of the rare white peacocks.
a) menagerie
b) villages
c) pateintly
d) palace
Show answer
c) pateintly. Patiently has i before e, as patient does.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The old palace once housed a rare neremgiea of tigers and cheetahs.
a) machinery
b) menagerie
c) margarine
d) merchandise
Show answer
b) menagerie. Three e's stand among the nine letters, and only one option has so many.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one of these words is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. sanctuery 2. aquarim 3. aviery 4. menagerie
a) a large cage for birds
b) a safe area for wild animals
c) a glass tank for fish
d) a private display of unusual creatures
Show answer
d) a private display of unusual creatures. Aviary has an a before the ry, aquarium a u before the m, and sanctuary an a before the ry.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these could be called a menagerie in a lively, joking way?
a) a shelf full of old school books
b) a flat with dogs, cats and parrots
c) a garden with one neat flower bed
d) a street lined with parked cars
Show answer
b) a flat with dogs, cats and parrots
2. In what way does a menagerie differ from a modern wildlife reserve?
a) it holds only one kind of bird
b) its animals are kept in cages
c) it is open only to scientists
d) its animals roam freely for miles
Show answer
b) its animals are kept in cages
