What does rhinestone mean?
Word: Rhinestone
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Rhinestone means a small clear stone, usually made of glass, that looks like a diamond and is used to decorate clothes and jewellery.
How do you spell rhinestone?
Syllables: rhine - stone
Tricky part: The h after the r makes no sound at all, so many students leave it out and write the word as it is heard.
Watch out for: rinestone, rynestone, rhynestone
Memory tip: Picture a rhino wearing a sparkling collar. The silent h stays on the gem just as it stays on the rhino.
Rhinestone in a sentence
Example 1: A single rhinestone fell from her dance costume and rolled across the stage.
Example 2: Meena glued a row of rhinestones around the edge of the greeting card.
Example 3: The singer wore a jacket covered with rhinestones that flashed under the lights.
Fun Fact
The first of these stones were rock crystals found along a great river in Europe, and the name still carries that river with it.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
tnesoirhne
a) milestone
b) rhinestone
c) rhinoceros
d) gemstone
Show answer
b) rhinestone. Gemstone and milestone are too short, and the animal needs a c that the jumble does not have.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
rhin_st_ne
a) o,o
b) e,o
c) a,o
d) e,a
Show answer
b) e,o. A silent e waits after the n, and the last beat is spelt like the thing it names.
Word Makeup
Only one of these compound words is spelt correctly. Choose it:
a) grasshoper
b) candelstick
c) wheelbarow
d) rhinestone
Show answer
d) rhinestone. Candlestick has le, wheelbarrow has a double r, and grasshopper has a double p.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) brooche
b) rhinestone
c) sequin
d) jewellery
Show answer
a) brooche. A brooch has no e at the end.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. A costume designer sews rhinestones onto a dress mainly to ____.
a) stop the cloth from tearing
b) make it sparkle under the lights
c) keep the cloth warm in winter
d) help it dry more quickly
Show answer
b) make it sparkle under the lights
2. Compared with a real diamond, a rhinestone is ____.
a) much heavier to wear
b) much cheaper to buy
c) much harder to scratch
d) much rarer to find
Show answer
b) much cheaper to buy
