What does pewter mean?
Word: Pewter
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Pewter means a grey metal made mostly of tin, used especially in the past for cups, plates and dishes.
How do you spell pewter?
Syllables: pew - ter
Tricky part: The first vowel sound is spelt ew. Pupils who write what they hear put puter or peuter.
Watch out for: puter, peuter
Memory tip: A new set of plates: new and pewter share the same ew.
Pewter in a sentence
Example 1: Grandpa keeps a pewter jug on the top shelf of the dresser.
Example 2: The winner of the quiz received a small pewter cup.
Example 3: Our art teacher showed us how to shape a thin sheet of pewter into a leaf.
Fun Fact
London's Pewterers, the craftsmen who made these goods, already had their own guild in 1348, and the company still exists today.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
pew_e_
a) t, r
b) t, n
c) d, r
d) t, l
Show answer
a) t, r. The middle consonant is the hard one in water, and the last is the one that closes water too.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The museum guide showed our class a shining pewtor plate that had been carefully polished for the visitors who were coming on Saturday morning.
a) visitors
b) carefully
c) museum
d) pewtor
Show answer
d) pewtor. The ending here is er, not or.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
Grandpa's old tperew mug sits beside his chess set in the study.
a) pewter
b) pepper
c) pester
d) powder
Show answer
a) pewter. The jumble has a w and two e's, and only one word uses them.
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. brass 2. bronze 3. pewter 4. alluminium
a) a brown metal made of copper and tin
b) a yellow metal made of copper and zinc
c) a light silver-white metal used in foil and cans
d) a dull grey metal mixture based on tin
Show answer
c) a light silver-white metal used in foil and cans. Aluminium has only one l at the start.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What would you expect a well-polished pewter plate to look like?
a) soft grey with a gentle shine
b) bright gold and glittering
c) deep red and rough
d) clear like window glass
Show answer
a) soft grey with a gentle shine
2. What kind of material is pewter?
a) an alloy
b) a kind of clay
c) a type of wood
d) a gemstone
Show answer
a) an alloy
