What does pump mean?
Word: Pump
Part of Speech: Noun, verb
Meaning: Pump means a machine that pushes or pulls water, air or another liquid or gas from one place to another. As a verb, to pump is to move something with one.
Antonyms: deflate
How do you spell pump?
Syllables: pump
Tricky part: The word ends in mp, and the p is clearly heard. Students sometimes write pumb or add an e.
Watch out for: pumb, pumpe, pummp
Memory tip: The p that starts the word comes back to end it: p-um-p, like water going in and coming out of a pump.
Idioms and Phrases
- pump iron: to lift weights for exercise Example: "My cousin pumps iron at the gym every morning."
Pump in a sentence
Example 1: The hand pump in the village square never runs dry.
Example 2: We stopped at a petrol pump on the highway.
Example 3: Uncle used a foot pump to fill the air mattress.
Fun Fact
The human heart is a pump. At an ordinary resting rate it beats roughly 100,000 times in a single day.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
The farmer switched on the electric upmp to water his wheat fields.
a) plum
b) lump
c) pump
d) pomp
Show answer
c) pump. Pomp needs an o, plum an l and lump an l; four letters with two p's and a u make pump.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word 'pump' as used in the sentence:
Before the match, the coach asked us to pump up the old football.
a) roll
b) kick
c) inflate
d) polish
Show answer
c) inflate. To pump up a ball is to fill it with air, which is what inflate means.
Spell-o-Spell
Only one word in the list is spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of that word.
1. plumer 2. hoze 3. pump 4. valv
a) a long bendy tube for water
b) a machine that pushes liquid or air
c) a part that opens or shuts a flow
d) a person who fits and mends water pipes
Show answer
b) a machine that pushes liquid or air. Plumber has a silent b, hose ends in se and valve ends in ve, so pump alone is correct.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
During the heavy monsoon rain, our housing society used a pump to drain the water from the flooded basment.
a) pump
b) society
c) monsoon
d) basment
Show answer
d) basment. Basement is base plus ment, and the e of base stays.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A petrol pump is a place where ____.
a) vehicles fill up with fuel
b) trains stop at night
c) letters are posted
d) farmers sell vegetables
Show answer
a) vehicles fill up with fuel
2. A hand pump in a village is mostly used to bring up ____.
a) sand from a river
b) oil for lamps
c) water from below
d) gas for cooking
Show answer
c) water from below
