What does pupil mean?
Word: Pupil
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Pupil means a child or young person who is taught at a school. It is also the small, round, black opening in the middle of your eye that lets light in.
How do you spell pupil?
Syllables: pu - pil
Tricky part: The ending is -il, not -le or -el, even though it sounds like the end of people.
Watch out for: puple, pupel
Memory tip: The final i is a pupil standing up straight for assembly, with its dot for a head, right before the l.
Pupil in a sentence
Example 1: The new pupil was shown around the school by the class monitor.
Example 2: Our art teacher has forty pupils in her Saturday drawing class.
Example 3: In the photo, the camera flash made Hana's pupils look red.
Fun Fact
Goats have rectangular pupils, which help them see a very wide view around them while they graze.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell Spies
Choose the misspelt word/s in the given sentence:
On the first day of term, every new puppil in our school was given a timetable and a library card.
a) puppil and timetable
b) only library
c) timetable and library
d) only puppil
Show answer
d) only puppil. Pupil has a single p in the middle; timetable and library are correct.
Word Champ
Which statements are true?
1. Your pupils get smaller when you step into bright sunlight. 2. The iris is the coloured ring around the pupil. 3. Eyelashes grow on the inside of the eyelids.
a) only 1 and 2 are true
b) only 1 and 3 are true
c) all three are true
d) only 2 and 3 are true
Show answer
a) only 1 and 2 are true. Eyelashes grow along the edge of the eyelids, not on the inside, so statement 3 is false.
Sound Check
In which word is 'u' pronounced differently?
a) pupil
b) bucket
c) human
d) music
Show answer
b) bucket. Bucket has the short u of cup; the other three say 'yoo'.
Word Puzzle
Match the words with their synonyms:
1. pupil 2. timetable 3. mistake a. schedule b. student c. error
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c
b) 1-a, 2-b, 3-c
c) 1-b, 2-c, 3-a
d) 1-c, 2-a, 3-b
Show answer
a) 1-b, 2-a, 3-c. A pupil is a student, a timetable is a schedule, and a mistake is an error.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which person in a school is a pupil?
a) the head teacher
b) the school cook
c) a girl in Class 5
d) the bus driver
Show answer
c) a girl in Class 5
2. In which sentence does pupil mean a part of the eye?
a) Each pupil carried a small blue bag.
b) The optician looked closely at her left pupil.
c) The music teacher praised her young pupil.
d) The quiet pupil sat near the window.
Show answer
b) The optician looked closely at her left pupil.
