What does telegram mean?
Word: Telegram
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Telegram means a short written message that used to be sent quickly by electric signals along wires and then delivered on paper.
How do you spell telegram?
Syllables: tel - e - gram
Tricky part: The word begins with tele, meaning far, as in telephone and television. The middle letter is an e, not an i or an a.
Watch out for: teligram, telagram, tellagram
Memory tip: Telephone, television and telegram all send things far away, and all start with the same four letters.
Telegram in a sentence
Example 1: In the old days, a telegram was the fastest way to send news to another city.
Example 2: Great-grandmother kept the telegram that told her about Grandpa's birth.
Example 3: The telegram simply said: Arriving Monday, meet me at the station.
Fun Fact
India's telegram service closed on 15 July 2013, more than 160 years after the first telegraph line opened in the country.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the incorrectly spelt word:
a) kilogram
b) programme
c) diagram
d) telegramm
Show answer
d) telegramm. Gram at the end has just one m, as in diagram and kilogram.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The postman cycled across the citty to deliver the telegram.
a) telegram
b) citty
c) deliver
d) postman
Show answer
b) citty. City has just one t.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
magretle
a) tolerate
b) emerald
c) telegram
d) triangle
Show answer
c) telegram. Tolerate needs an o and a second t, triangle needs an i and an n, and emerald has a d.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these replaced the telegram for sending quick messages?
a) handwritten letters
b) adverts in newspapers
c) emails and text messages
d) parcels sent by train
Show answer
c) emails and text messages
2. Why were telegrams usually very short?
a) Long messages were not allowed by law.
b) People did not know many words.
c) The paper was too small for more.
d) Senders paid for every word.
Show answer
d) Senders paid for every word.
