What does taught mean?
Word: Taught
Part of Speech: Verb (past tense and past participle of teach)
Meaning: Taught means gave lessons to someone or showed them how to do something. It is the past form of teach.
Synonyms: trained, coached
Sounds like: taut (stretched firmly, not slack)
How do you spell taught?
Syllables: taught
Tricky part: The gh after au is silent, so the word sounds just like taut. Students write taut (a different word), tought or tawght.
Watch out for: tought, tawght, taght, teached
Memory tip: Caught, taught, daughter and naughty all share the same four letters, augh.
Idioms and Phrases
- self-taught: having learnt something without a teacher Example: "The tabla player was completely self-taught from old recordings."
Taught in a sentence
Example 1: My grandfather taught me to ride a cycle in the lane behind our house.
Example 2: Ms Bose has taught at this school for twenty years.
Example 3: Who taught you to fold a paper boat?
Fun Fact
In Old English the past of teach was taehte; teach is one of a small group of verbs, with catch, seek and think, whose past tense ends in ght.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Last summer my older cousin taught me how to make paper kites, and we flew them from the terrace on every festive occassion until the monsoon began.
a) occassion
b) terrace
c) taught
d) monsoon
Show answer
a) occassion. Occasion has a double c but only one s.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence and choose the word they make:
My aunt uhtgta the whole family how to draw a kolam.
a) tight
b) bought
c) taught
d) tough
Show answer
c) taught. Bought and tough need an o, and tight needs an i; only taught uses a, u, g, h and two t's.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the correctly spelt word:
1. knowlege 2. lerned 3. taught 4. praktised
a) passed on knowledge or skill
b) did something again and again to improve
c) what a person knows
d) gained knowledge by study
Show answer
a) passed on knowledge or skill. Learned has ea, knowledge has a d before the ge, and practised has a c; taught has no slip at all.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word 'taught' as used in the sentence:
Aunt Leela taught the village children to read in her free time.
a) followed
b) scolded
c) instructed
d) visited
Show answer
c) instructed. To teach is to instruct, so instructed fits; scolded, followed and visited do not.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which verb has a past tense spelt with ght, like taught?
a) bring
b) drive
c) sing
d) swim
Show answer
a) bring
2. Pick the sentence in which taught is the right word.
a) The drum skin was stretched taught.
b) Ma taught me to roll rotis on Sunday.
c) Pull the rope taught before you tie it.
d) Keep the kite string taught in the wind.
Show answer
b) Ma taught me to roll rotis on Sunday.
