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Spell Bee Word: Porcupine


What does porcupine mean?

Word: Porcupine

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Porcupine means an animal covered in long, sharp spines called quills. It raises them when it is in danger.

Word origin: From old French porc espin, meaning 'spiny pig'.

How do you spell porcupine?

Syllables: por - cu - pine

Tricky part: The k sound in the middle is spelt with a c, not a k.

Watch out for: porkupine, porkypine

Memory tip: Think of a porcupine curled up into a ball, the shape of a c: that c makes the k sound in por-cu.

Porcupine in a sentence

Example 1: The porcupine raised its quills at the barking dog.

Example 2: We saw a porcupine at night in the forest park.

Example 3: A porcupine eats roots, fruits and bark.

Fun Fact

A porcupine cannot shoot its quills. They come loose and stick in an animal that touches them.

Practise the CREST Way

Spell-o-Spell

Choose the correctly spelt word:

a) porcupin
b) porcupine
c) porcapine
d) porcupyne

Show answer

b) porcupine. It starts por-cu, and it ends with the tree name pine.

Mingle-Mangle

Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:

ucrpnoipe

a) porucpine
b) porcpuine
c) procupine
d) porcupine

Show answer

d) porcupine. Start with por, then build the rest from the letters left.

Word Cookie

Find the extra letter in the word:

porcuppine

a) c
b) p
c) u
d) n

Show answer

b) p. Porcupine has two p's, but they are far apart, never side by side.

Word Cookie

Find the misspelt word in the sentence:

The zoo keeper fed the pocupine some fruit.

a) fed
b) fruit
c) keeper
d) pocupine

Show answer

d) pocupine. Porcupine starts with por; the r is quiet when we say it, but it is written.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Which animal also has sharp spines on its back, like a porcupine?

a) a mole
b) a hedgehog
c) a rabbit
d) a squirrel

Show answer

b) a hedgehog

2. A porcupine's quills are really a special kind of ____.

a) hair
b) feather
c) shell
d) scale

Show answer

a) hair

Associated Words

Words that end in -ine: define, imagine, medicine, jasmine, combine, sunshine

More words from this list

shorts, tiny, aircraft, bowl, confirm, false, guess, mare

Next steps

How to participate in CREST International Spell Bee

The CREST International Spell Bee (CSB) is conducted in two editions – CREST International Spell Bee - Summer (CSB) and CREST International Spell Bee - Winter (CSBW) – giving students across the globe an opportunity to showcase and enhance their spelling proficiency. Designed for young learners from Senior KG to Class 8, the competition focuses on word-building, pronunciation, and vocabulary enrichment, helping students develop strong linguistic skills.

Steps to Participate:

Step 1: Visit the registration page and complete the registration with your desired subject.

Step 2: After Registration done, do login at www.crestolympiads.com/login.

Step 3: After login, go to dashboard and click on Book slot/Take Exam

Step 4: Schedule your exam date and preferred time.

Step 5: Log in with your credentials on the exam day at the scheduled time and take the exam.

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