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Spell Bee Word: Semitone


What does semitone mean?

Word: Semitone

Part of Speech: Noun

Meaning: Semitone means the smallest step in pitch between two notes in Western music, such as from C to C sharp. It is half a tone.

How do you spell semitone?

Syllables: sem - i - tone

Tricky part: The second half is the ordinary word tone, with o and a silent e at the end, as in phone and stone.

Watch out for: semitoan, semitown, semi-toan

Memory tip: A tone is a sound in music, and a semitone is half of one. Keep tone whole, silent e and all.

Semitone in a sentence

Example 1: The two notes were only a semitone apart, so they sounded very close.

Example 2: Our music teacher raised the song by a semitone so it suited our voices.

Example 3: Our choir practised moving up one semitone at a time.

Fun Fact

Semitone is the British word. In American English the same step is usually called a half step.

Practise the CREST Way

Word Makeup

Choose the prefix that completes the word:

____tone

a) semie
b) semme
c) simi
d) semi

Show answer

d) semi. Semi means half, and a semitone is half a tone.

Spell-o-Spell

Choose the correctly spelt word:

a) rythm
b) semitone
c) melodie
d) harmoney

Show answer

b) semitone. Rhythm has an h after the r, melody ends in y and harmony has no e.

Word Cookie

Find the misspelt word in the sentence:

Between C and C sharp is a semitone, the smallest step we learnt in music lesons.

a) learnt
b) semitone
c) smallest
d) lesons

Show answer

d) lesons. Lessons has a double s, like the word less.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Moving a note up by a semitone makes it sound ____.

a) much softer
b) much louder
c) a little higher
d) much lower

Show answer

c) a little higher

2. On which of these instruments can you easily see a semitone step?

a) a triangle
b) a pair of cymbals
c) a piano keyboard
d) a bass drum

Show answer

c) a piano keyboard

Associated Words

Next steps

How to participate in CREST International Spell Bee

The CREST International Spell Bee (CSB) is conducted in two editions – CREST International Spell Bee - Summer (CSB) and CREST International Spell Bee - Winter (CSBW) – giving students across the globe an opportunity to showcase and enhance their spelling proficiency. Designed for young learners from Senior KG to Class 8, the competition focuses on word-building, pronunciation, and vocabulary enrichment, helping students develop strong linguistic skills.

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