What does pelt mean?
Word: Pelt
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Pelt means to throw a lot of things at someone, one after another. Heavy rain or hail is also said to pelt down. As a noun, a pelt is the skin of an animal with its fur still on.
Synonyms: shower, pour
How do you spell pelt?
Syllables: pelt
Tricky part: The l is single. Children who know pellet, or who double letters before a t, often write the word with two l's.
Watch out for: pellt, pellte
Memory tip: Picture one long hailstone streak as the single l in pelt: one stroke, standing alone before the t.
Idioms and Phrases
- at full pelt: As fast as possible. Example: "Arjun ran at full pelt to catch the school bus."
Pelt in a sentence
Example 1: The boys pelted each other with paper balls until the teacher walked in.
Example 2: Rain pelted down on the tin roof of our verandah all night.
Example 3: In winter, the Himalayan red fox grows a thick, soft pelt.
Fun Fact
Most dictionaries treat the verb pelt (to throw things at) and the noun pelt (an animal's skin with its fur) as two separate words that simply came to be spelt the same way.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) crept
b) felt
c) built
d) pealt
Show answer
d) pealt. Pelt has a plain e, as in felt and crept; the ea of dealt does not belong in it.
Word Tally
How many words are misspelt in this sentence?
The children were pelted with hailstones as they ran across the feild to the school bulding.
a) 2
b) 1
c) 3
d) 0
Show answer
a) 2. Feild should be field (i before e) and bulding has lost the i of building; pelted is fine.
Word Puzzle
Match each word in 1-3 with a word in A-C:
1. pelt 2. trudge 3. scurry A. scamper B. plod C. bombard
a) 1-A, 2-C, 3-B
b) 1-C, 2-B, 3-A
c) 1-B, 2-C, 3-A
d) 1-C, 2-A, 3-B
Show answer
b) 1-C, 2-B, 3-A. These are synonyms: to pelt is to bombard with things thrown, to trudge is to plod, and to scurry is to scamper.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. At a summer water party in the garden, what are you most likely to be pelted with?
a) balloons full of coloured water
b) a birthday card from a friend
c) a cup of hot ginger tea
d) a quiet song from the radio
Show answer
a) balloons full of coloured water
2. Which of these animals has a pelt that keeps it warm?
a) a mountain fox
b) a garden snail
c) a goldfish
d) a desert lizard
Show answer
a) a mountain fox
