What does profitable mean?
Word: Profitable
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Profitable means earning a business more than it spends, or giving you something useful in return for your time.
How do you spell profitable?
Syllables: prof - it - a - ble
Tricky part: Profit keeps a single t when the ending is added, so profittable is wrong. The beat falls on prof, not on the t.
Watch out for: profittable, proffitable
Memory tip: The beat falls on the first part of profit, which is why its t is never doubled: profited and profiting keep one t too.
Profitable in a sentence
Example 1: The farm's strawberry crop was so profitable that the family bought a second greenhouse.
Example 2: Selling old toys at the school fair turned out to be profitable, and Leo raised enough for a new football.
Example 3: A quiet hour in the library can be more profitable than a whole noisy afternoon of study.
Fun Fact
Profit comes from the Latin word profectus, which meant progress or advance.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the suffix that completes the word:
profit____
a) eble
b) uble
c) ible
d) able
Show answer
d) able. Profit takes the same ending as comfortable and valuable.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
profitable
a) lucrative
b) loss-making
c) rewarding
d) worthwhile
Show answer
b) loss-making. A loss-making business spends more than it earns, the opposite of a profitable one.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) bargain
b) profitable
c) buisness
d) customer
Show answer
c) buisness. Business is built on busy, with the y changed to i, so the u comes straight after the b.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these bakeries is profitable?
a) one that earns 400 a week and spends 400
b) one that earns 300 a week and spends 500
c) one that earns 200 a week and spends 350
d) one that earns 500 a week and spends 300
Show answer
d) one that earns 500 a week and spends 300
2. Leo found that revising for twenty minutes each evening was profitable. What does this tell us?
a) it made him tired and rather grumpy
b) it helped him and gave good results
c) it took up most of his free weekend
d) it earned him a lot of pocket money
Show answer
b) it helped him and gave good results
