What does muscular mean?
Word: Muscular
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Muscular means having large, strong muscles, or connected with the muscles of the body.
How do you spell muscular?
Syllables: mus - cu - lar
Tricky part: The hard sound in the middle tempts students to use a k, and they write muskular or musckular. Think of cat, not kite.
Watch out for: muskular, musckular
Memory tip: Muscle has a c that makes no sound. In muscular the same c wakes up.
Muscular in a sentence
Example 1: The muscular wrestler lifted his young son onto his shoulders.
Example 2: Dolphins have muscular tails that push them through the water.
Example 3: After a year of swimming, Arjun's shoulders looked more muscular.
Fun Fact
The root of the word is the Latin musculus, little mouse, perhaps because a rippling muscle looks like a mouse moving under the skin.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
culmsura
a) masculine
b) musician
c) muscular
d) mustard
Show answer
c) muscular. The jumble has no i or t, so only one option survives.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
muscular
a) slender
b) brawny
c) nimble
d) gentle
Show answer
b) brawny. A brawny person is big and powerfully built, which is the same picture.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The gymnast's muscalar arms helped her hold the rings steady.
a) muscalar
b) rings
c) gymnast's
d) steady
Show answer
a) muscalar. The middle beat takes a u, as in the word regular.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) energetic
b) muscular
c) agressive
d) athletic
Show answer
c) agressive. Aggressive has a double g as well as its double s.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A muscular build matters most to whom?
a) a school librarian
b) a champion weightlifter
c) a quiz show host
d) a chess grandmaster
Show answer
b) a champion weightlifter
2. The vet said the horse had muscular legs. What does that tell us?
a) They are powerful and well built
b) They are covered with thick hair
c) They are marked with white spots
d) They are thin and rather short
Show answer
a) They are powerful and well built
