What does sedimentary mean?
Word: Sedimentary
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Sedimentary means formed from layers of sand, mud, shells or other bits that settled and slowly hardened into rock.
How do you spell sedimentary?
Syllables: sed - i - men - ta - ry
Tricky part: The vowel after d is i, not e, because students hear only a weak sound there.
Watch out for: sedementary, sedimentery, sedamentary
Memory tip: Picture a glass of muddy river water left on a shelf: the sediment sinks to the bottom in layers, the way sedimentary rock forms.
Sedimentary in a sentence
Example 1: Chalk is a soft sedimentary rock made from the shells of tiny sea creatures.
Example 2: The cliffs showed stripes of sedimentary layers in different colours.
Example 3: Our geography teacher brought a piece of sedimentary rock with a shell pressed into it.
Fun Fact
Most fossils are found in sedimentary rock, because plants and animals are buried in soft mud before it hardens. Fossil sea shells have even been found high in the Himalayas.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the suffix that completes the word:
sediment
a) airy
b) ary
c) arie
d) ery
Show answer
b) ary. Sediment takes ary, the same ending as documentary and complimentary.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) metamorphic
b) igneous
c) volcanic
d) sedimantary
Show answer
d) sedimantary. Sediment has men in it, not man.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
dmeyrtaneis
a) sedentary
b) sedimentary
c) sedimentation
d) elementary
Show answer
b) sedimentary. Sedentary is two letters short, elementary has an l, and sedimentation needs o and another t.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Each seperate layer of sedimentary rock in the cliff took thousands of years to form.
a) seperate
b) layer
c) sedimentary
d) thousands
Show answer
a) seperate. Separate has an a after the p: sep-a-rate.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Pick the sedimentary rock.
a) granite
b) limestone
c) marble
d) basalt
Show answer
b) limestone
2. Sedimentary rocks are usually formed ____.
a) from melted rock deep underground
b) by great heat and pressure
c) in layers over a long time
d) from cooled lava
Show answer
c) in layers over a long time
