What does mezzanine mean?
Word: Mezzanine
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Mezzanine means a small extra floor that sits between two main floors of a building.
How do you spell mezzanine?
Syllables: mez - za - nine
Tricky part: One z sounds as good as two, so pupils stop at one. The word came from Italian and keeps the pair.
Watch out for: mezanine, mezzanin
Memory tip: Two z's stand in the middle of the word, one above the other in your mind, just as this floor stands between two others.
Mezzanine in a sentence
Example 1: Our school library has a mezzanine where the senior pupils can read.
Example 2: The shop stores its stock on a mezzanine above the tills.
Example 3: We climbed a narrow iron stair to the mezzanine and looked down at the hall.
Fun Fact
A British visitor to New York may be surprised: in American theatres, the mezzanine usually means the front rows of the lowest balcony, not a floor of a building.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
mezz_n_ne
a) a, e
b) i, e
c) e, i
d) a, i
Show answer
d) a, i. The beat after the double letter takes an a, and the ending is spelt like the number nine.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Visitors to the new science museum in Bengaluru can climb up to the mezzannine, where a long glass wall gives them a clear view of the planet models below.
a) planet
b) museum
c) mezzannine
d) Visitors
Show answer
c) mezzannine. A single n follows the a.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word:
The restaurant's meannzeiz looks down on the busy kitchen below.
a) medicine
b) mezzanine
c) margarine
d) magazine
Show answer
b) mezzanine. Two z's in the jumble settle it at once.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the correctly spelt word:
1. corrider 2. staircaise 3. mezzanine 4. baclony
a) a raised platform on an outside wall
b) a low storey tucked between two others
c) a long passage in a building
d) a set of steps inside a building
Show answer
b) a low storey tucked between two others. Balcony has the l before the c, corridor ends in or, and staircase has no i.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which shop would gain most from adding a mezzanine?
a) a high-ceilinged shop short of space
b) a low tin hut on a village road
c) a stall set up for a single evening
d) a tiny kiosk on a station platform
Show answer
a) a high-ceilinged shop short of space
2. A mezzanine usually covers ____.
a) every floor of the whole building
b) the street outside the front door
c) only part of the floor beneath it
d) the entire flat roof of the block
Show answer
c) only part of the floor beneath it
