What does mountain mean?
Word: Mountain
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Mountain means a very high hill, often with steep sides and a rocky or snowy top. It can also mean a big pile of something.
Synonyms: peak, mount
Antonyms: valley
How do you spell mountain?
Syllables: moun - tain
Tricky part: The end sounds like tin, but it is spelt with a and i, a first. Mountin and mountian are common slips.
Watch out for: mountin, mountian, mountan
Memory tip: Mountain ends like captain and curtain: picture a captain pulling a curtain open to see a mountain.
Idioms and Phrases
- make a mountain out of a molehill: to treat a small problem as if it were a very big one. Example: "It is only one wrong sum, so do not make a mountain out of a molehill."
Mountain in a sentence
Example 1: Our village sits at the foot of a mountain covered in pine trees.
Example 2: There was a mountain of clothes to wash after the holiday.
Example 3: Kanchenjunga, in Sikkim, is the third highest mountain in the world.
Fun Fact
Mountain came into English from the Old French word montaigne, and it goes back to the Latin word mons. That is why mountain and mount belong to the same word family.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Chain
Complete the word sequence:
pebble, rock, hill, ____
a) sand
b) stone
c) boulder
d) mountain
Show answer
d) mountain. Each thing is bigger than the one before, and a mountain is bigger than a hill.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
mounntain
a) t
b) o
c) n
d) u
Show answer
c) n. The first part has just one n, straight after the ou.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
nautoinm
a) muontain
b) moutnain
c) mountain
d) mnoutain
Show answer
c) mountain. Begin with m and the ou that says ow, as in cloud.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) desart
b) mountain
c) forest
d) river
Show answer
a) desart. Desert, the dry sandy land, has an e after the s.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Name a mountain range in India.
a) the Sundarbans
b) the Himalayas
c) the Ganga
d) the Thar
Show answer
b) the Himalayas
2. Why do climbers carry warm jackets up a high mountain?
a) it is colder near the top
b) the path is made of glass
c) the top is always dark
d) the top is full of sand
Show answer
a) it is colder near the top
