What does suburb mean?
Word: Suburb
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Suburb means an area where people live on the edge of a city, away from its busy centre.
Synonyms: outskirts
How do you spell suburb?
Syllables: sub - urb
Tricky part: The second vowel is u, as in urban, not e: suberb is a common slip.
Watch out for: suberb, subirb
Memory tip: Think of urban life on the edge of a city: a suburb shares the u of urban, so no e creeps in.
Suburb in a sentence
Example 1: My aunt lives in Salt Lake, a suburb of Kolkata.
Example 2: The new metro line links the suburbs to the city centre.
Example 3: Our suburb has wide streets and a big park.
Fun Fact
Some of the world's earliest railway suburbs grew up around London in the 1800s, as trains let workers live further from the city.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word suburb as used in the sentence:
We moved from the crowded old town to a quiet suburb.
a) residential area
b) city centre
c) main highway
d) busy market
Show answer
a) residential area. A suburb is mostly homes, so it is a residential area on the city's edge.
Spell-o-Spell
Three of these words are spelt correctly. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. metropolas 2. suburb 3. village 4. colony
a) a group of people who settle in a new land
b) an area of homes on the edge of a city
c) a very large, busy city
d) a small group of houses in the country
Show answer
c) a very large, busy city. Metropolis ends in is, not as; suburb, village and colony have no slip.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
Grandpa's house is in a green bruubs on the road to the airport.
a) scrub
b) suburb
c) superb
d) subtle
Show answer
b) suburb. The jumble has two u's and two b's, which only suburb uses.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
subburb
a) b
b) u
c) s
d) r
Show answer
a) b. Only one b joins the two halves of the word.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Someone who lives in a suburb is most likely to ____.
a) travel into the city for work
b) live on a houseboat at sea
c) farm rice in a remote village
d) live above the city's main market
Show answer
a) travel into the city for work
2. Superb is often confused with suburb. Superb means ____.
a) outer
b) quiet
c) excellent
d) crowded
Show answer
c) excellent
