What does unbelievable mean?
Word: Unbelievable
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Unbelievable means so surprising, good or bad that it is hard to believe.
Synonyms: amazing, astonishing
Antonyms: believable, ordinary
How do you spell unbelievable?
Syllables: un - be - liev - a - ble
Tricky part: Believe keeps its ie inside unbelievable; unbeleivable, with the two letters swapped, is the slip seen most often.
Watch out for: unbeleivable, unbelivable, unbelievible
Memory tip: Never believe a lie: the word lie sits right in the middle of unbeLIEvable.
Unbelievable in a sentence
Example 1: The view from the top of Nandi Hills at sunrise was unbelievable.
Example 2: Mia's story about a parrot that could count sounded unbelievable, but it was true.
Example 3: Our team scored an unbelievable goal from the halfway line.
Fun Fact
Believe is related to lief, an old English word for dear. Long ago, to believe something was to hold it dear.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word:
unbelievable
a) invisible
b) incredible
c) uneasy
d) unbearable
Show answer
b) incredible. Something incredible is too surprising to believe, which is just what unbelievable means.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
unbelieveable
a) e
b) i
c) a
d) l
Show answer
a) e. Believe drops its final e when able joins on, so that e has no place here.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) magnificant
b) remarkeble
c) incredable
d) unbelievable
Show answer
d) unbelievable. Incredible ends in ible, remarkable in able, and magnificent in ent.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
blnvielaebue
a) unbelievable
b) unbeatable
c) unbelievably
d) believable
Show answer
a) unbelievable. Believable has no u or n, unbelievably ends in y, and unbeatable has a t and no i or v.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Your friend says she saw something unbelievable at the fair. What might she have seen?
a) a family sharing a plate of chips
b) a stall selling glass bangles
c) a long queue for the big wheel
d) a man juggling ten flaming torches
Show answer
d) a man juggling ten flaming torches
2. If a story sounds unbelievable, the listeners are likely to ____.
a) learn it by heart at once
b) fall asleep halfway through
c) ask if it really happened
d) forget it the next day
Show answer
c) ask if it really happened
