What does sailing mean?
Word: Sailing
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Sailing means the sport or activity of travelling across water in a boat that has sails.
Synonyms: boating
How do you spell sailing?
Syllables: sail - ing
Tricky part: The long a sound is spelt ai, as in rain and train.
Watch out for: saling, sayling, saleing
Memory tip: Picture rain blowing onto a boat on a windy lake: rain and sailing share the same pair of letters for the long a, a then i.
Idioms and Phrases
- plain sailing: something that is easy and goes smoothly Example: "After the first tricky sum, the rest of the test was plain sailing."
Sailing in a sentence
Example 1: We went sailing on the lake at Bhopal during the holidays.
Example 2: Sailing needs a steady wind and a careful eye on the water.
Example 3: My cousin is learning sailing at a club in Mumbai.
Fun Fact
Sailing races were planned for the first modern Olympics in 1896, but bad weather stopped them, so the sport first appeared at the 1900 Games.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) captin
b) sailing
c) voyige
d) harbur
Show answer
b) sailing. Harbour, voyage and captain each have a letter missing or changed here; sailing is complete.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
sailling
a) i
b) l
c) a
d) n
Show answer
b) l. Sail ends in one l, and adding ing does not double it.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
sail_n_
a) i, g
b) a, g
c) i, k
d) e, g
Show answer
a) i, g. The ending is the same ing you hear in raining and waiting.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
ginlias
a) saiilng
b) sailing
c) sailnig
d) slaiing
Show answer
b) sailing. Slaiing, saiilng and sailnig keep the ai together but put other letters in the wrong places.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What pushes a sailing boat along?
a) pedals
b) a motor
c) the wind
d) oars
Show answer
c) the wind
2. Which place would be best for a day of sailing?
a) a wide lake on a windy day
b) a small pond on a still day
c) a rocky stream in the hills
d) a frozen lake in winter
Show answer
a) a wide lake on a windy day
