What does primary mean?
Word: Primary
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Primary means first or most important, as in the primary reason for something. Primary colours are the main ones that other colours are mixed from.
Synonyms: main, chief, first
How do you spell primary?
Syllables: pri - ma - ry
Tricky part: The ending is -ary, and the middle a is often swallowed when we speak, so children write primry.
Watch out for: primry, primarey, primery
Memory tip: Primary means first, and a is the first letter of the alphabet: let it remind you of the a in pri-ma-ry.
Primary in a sentence
Example 1: My brother is in the primary section of our school.
Example 2: Water is the primary need of every living thing.
Example 3: Keeping everyone safe is the primary aim on a school trip.
Fun Fact
Birds have primary feathers too: the long, strong feathers at the tip of each wing that do most of the work in flight.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
primary
a) secondary
b) leading
c) central
d) basic
Show answer
a) secondary. Basic, central and leading stand close to primary; secondary means coming next.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The premary reason for the delay was heavy rain.
a) reason
b) delay
c) premary
d) heavy
Show answer
c) premary. The first vowel in primary is i, the same as in prize.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ymiarpr
a) rpimary
b) pirmary
c) primary
d) pimrary
Show answer
c) primary. Pirmary, pimrary and rpimary all keep the ary ending but put the first letters in the wrong order.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) holliday
b) uniform
c) science
d) primary
Show answer
a) holliday. Holiday has only one l: it grew from holy day.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In painting, which colour is a primary colour?
a) yellow
b) orange
c) green
d) purple
Show answer
a) yellow
2. A primary school teaches ____.
a) only the top classes
b) college students
c) the first few classes
d) adults after work
Show answer
c) the first few classes
