What does punishment mean?
Word: Punishment
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Punishment means something unpleasant given to a person because they did something wrong.
Synonyms: penalty
How do you spell punishment?
Syllables: pun - ish - ment
Tricky part: Punish ends in sh, and the h is easy to drop when the ending follows, giving punisment.
Watch out for: punisment, punishmeant, punishement
Memory tip: Punish ends in sh like finish and wash; that sh stays put in punishment.
Punishment in a sentence
Example 1: The punishment for being late was sweeping the classroom.
Example 2: Grandpa says shouting is not a good punishment.
Example 3: In the fable, the greedy dog's punishment was losing its bone.
Fun Fact
Punish comes through French from Latin punire, which is linked to poena, penalty, the root of both penalty and pain.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
punishment
a) detention
b) fine
c) reward
d) scolding
Show answer
c) reward. Detention, a fine and a scolding are all kinds of punishment; a reward is the opposite.
Word Makeup
Choose the suffix that completes the word:
punish
a) mont
b) ment
c) mant
d) mint
Show answer
b) ment. Punish takes ment to become a noun, as in payment.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Our teacher said that picking up litter in the playground was a fair punnishment for being noisy.
a) playground
b) teacher
c) litter
d) punnishment
Show answer
d) punnishment. Pun has one n, and so does punishment.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
p_n_shment
a) a, i
b) u, i
c) u, e
d) o, i
Show answer
b) u, i. Punish has the u of pun and the i of ish.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In a board game, 'miss a turn' is a punishment for landing on a red square. It means you:
a) skip your next go
b) win the game at once
c) roll the dice again
d) choose a new colour
Show answer
a) skip your next go
2. In football, which of these is a punishment from the referee?
a) a goal kick
b) a throw-in
c) a corner kick
d) a yellow card
Show answer
d) a yellow card
