What does mortgage mean?
Word: Mortgage
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Mortgage means a large loan from a bank that a family uses to buy a house or flat. The family pays it back bit by bit over many years.
How do you spell mortgage?
Syllables: mort - gage
Tricky part: The t is silent, so the word sounds like MOR-gij. Students hear no t and leave it out, writing morgage.
Watch out for: morgage, morgauge
Memory tip: Mortgage starts with mort, like mortar in a house wall. Keep that t, even though you never hear it.
Mortgage in a sentence
Example 1: My uncle took a twenty-year mortgage to buy a flat near his office in Sydney.
Example 2: The bank checked my parents' salary slips before it agreed to the mortgage.
Example 3: Grandpa still remembers the day he made the last payment on his mortgage.
Fun Fact
The person who borrows the money is the mortgagor and the bank that lends it is the mortgagee, so here the -ee word is the lender, not the borrower.
Practise the CREST Way
Spellacadabra
Choose the correct option to make a meaningful word:
mortg_____
a) ege
b) idge
c) age
d) ige
Show answer
c) age. The end is spelt age, as in village and cottage, even though it sounds like ij.
Word Champ
Read the three statements. Which of them are true?
1. A mortgage is usually paid back over many years. 2. A landlord is a person who pays rent to live in someone else's house. 3. Mortar is a mixture of cement, sand and water that holds bricks together.
a) all three are true
b) only 2 is true
c) only 1 and 2 are true
d) only 1 and 3 are true
Show answer
d) only 1 and 3 are true. A landlord owns the house and collects the rent; the person who pays it is the tenant.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with their meanings:
1. mortgage 2. pension 3. instalment a. one of several parts of a payment spread over time b. a loan from a bank to buy a home c. money paid regularly to a person who has retired
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
b) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
c) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
d) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
Show answer
a) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a. A bank lends a mortgage, a retired teacher draws a pension, and a big bill can be paid off in instalments.
Sound Check
In which word is 'or' pronounced differently?
a) border
b) mortgage
c) worthy
d) portal
Show answer
c) worthy. After w, or is said like the ir in bird; in the other three it is the or of fork.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is true once the last payment on a mortgage has been made?
a) the loan starts again from the beginning
b) the family has to move out at once
c) the bank gives them a second flat
d) the home belongs fully to the family
Show answer
d) the home belongs fully to the family
2. In 'a fifteen-year mortgage', the fifteen years is ___.
a) the time given to repay the loan
b) the age of the house being bought
c) the time taken to build the flat
d) the age of the person borrowing
Show answer
a) the time given to repay the loan
