What does preach mean?
Word: Preach
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Preach means to give a religious talk to people; also, to tell others again and again how they should behave.
Synonyms: teach
How do you spell preach?
Syllables: preach
Tricky part: The long e sound is spelt ea, not ee or e alone.
Watch out for: preech, prech, priech
Memory tip: Preachers often tell people to eat well and be kind, and the ea of eat gives preach its long e sound.
Idioms and Phrases
- practise what you preach: to do the things you tell other people to do Example: "Our coach tells us to sleep early, and he practises what he preaches."
Preach in a sentence
Example 1: The speaker preached about kindness at the school assembly.
Example 2: My brother likes to preach about healthy food while eating chips.
Example 3: Grandpa loves to preach about saving water at home.
Fun Fact
Preach comes from Latin praedicare, to proclaim in public, the same word that gives grammar the term predicate.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
preach
a) lecture
b) obey
c) listen
d) whisper
Show answer
a) lecture. When someone preaches at you, they give you a lecture.
Word Makeup
Choose the suffix that completes the word:
preach
a) ar
b) er
c) or
d) our
Show answer
b) er. A person who preaches is a preacher, with er as in teacher.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
preatch
a) c
b) a
c) t
d) h
Show answer
c) t. Preach ends in ch with no t before it, unlike catch and match.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
chepra
a) preach
b) cheap
c) peach
d) perch
Show answer
a) preach. Perch, cheap and peach each leave one letter unused; preach takes all six.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word rhymes with preach?
a) breath
b) branch
c) bread
d) beach
Show answer
d) beach
2. Which sentence uses preach correctly?
a) Our principal often preaches the value of good manners.
b) The sparrow preached on the branch all morning.
c) I preached my bicycle to school today.
d) She preached the ball over the wall.
Show answer
a) Our principal often preaches the value of good manners.
