What does miser mean?
Word: Miser
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Miser means a person who loves money and hates spending it, sometimes living poorly just to keep it.
Synonyms: skinflint, penny-pincher, hoarder, scrooge
Word origin: Comes from the Latin word miser, meaning wretched or unhappy.
How do you spell miser?
Syllables: mi - ser
Tricky part: The middle sounds like z but is spelt with an s.
Watch out for: mizer, misser
Memory tip: You hear a z in the middle, but write an s, just as you do in rose and nose.
Miser in a sentence
Example 1: The miser counted his coins every night by candlelight.
Example 2: He was such a miser that he reused the same tea leaves three times.
Example 3: In the folk tale, a clever servant tricks the greedy miser.
Fun Fact
Ebenezer Scrooge, the miser in a Charles Dickens story of 1843, gave English the word scrooge for a mean person.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to miser as used in the sentence:
The old miser kept his money in a tin trunk under the bed and would not even buy new slippers.
a) spendthrift
b) saver
c) banker
d) collector
Show answer
a) spendthrift. A miser will not spend, while a spendthrift spends too freely; a collector, a banker and a saver are not his opposites.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. tycon 2. miser 3. economist 4. treasurer
a) a person who hates to part with money
b) a person in charge of a group's money
c) an expert on how money and trade work
d) a very rich and powerful businessperson
Show answer
d) a very rich and powerful businessperson. Tycoon has a double o, so tycon is misspelt; miser, economist and treasurer are all correct.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Everyone in the street called old Mr Batra a miser, until they learnt he had quietly paid the school fees of six childern.
a) street
b) miser
c) childern
d) quietly
Show answer
c) childern. Children has the r before the e: child plus ren.
Word Cookie
Fill in the missing letters to complete the word:
m_s_r
a) y, e
b) e, a
c) i, o
d) i, e
Show answer
d) i, e. Miser has an i after the m and an e before the r.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A miser is most likely to ____.
a) eat at costly restaurants
b) buy expensive gifts for friends
c) save string and old paper bags
d) give away money to strangers
Show answer
c) save string and old paper bags
2. By the end of Dickens's famous story, the miser Scrooge has become ____.
a) even more selfish
b) poor and homeless
c) kind and generous
d) famous as a singer
Show answer
c) kind and generous
