What does undercover mean?
Word: Undercover
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Undercover means working or done without others knowing, often by pretending to be someone else, especially by the police or a reporter collecting information.
Synonyms: hidden, disguised
Antonyms: open, public
How do you spell undercover?
Syllables: un - der - cov - er
Tricky part: It is one closed word with no space or hyphen, and no letter in it is doubled.
Watch out for: undercovar, undercovver, underrcover
Memory tip: An undercover agent leaves no gaps in the story, and the word leaves no gap either: write it in one piece.
Undercover in a sentence
Example 1: An undercover inspector rode the bus to check that every passenger had a ticket.
Example 2: The reporter went undercover as a factory worker for three months.
Example 3: The food safety team ran an undercover operation to check which shops sold stale sweets.
Fun Fact
Undercover agents are sometimes called moles, after the animal that works unseen underground.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word: undercover
a) famous
b) careful
c) official
d) secret
Show answer
d) secret. Undercover work is done in secret.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to form a word:
und_rc_ver
a) i,o
b) a,o
c) e,o
d) e,u
Show answer
c) e,o. Under keeps its e, and cover keeps its o even though it sounds like cuv.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
cvedounerr
a) uncovered
b) overcrowd
c) undercover
d) rediscover
Show answer
c) undercover. There is a u but no i or s, so rediscover is out, and uncovered is one letter short.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An undercover reporter ____.
a) writes only about sport
b) hides who she is to find facts
c) wears a press badge everywhere
d) reads the news in a studio
Show answer
b) hides who she is to find facts
2. Which is an example of an undercover operation?
a) a police band at a parade
b) a policeman at a school assembly
c) a traffic officer at a crossing
d) a shop inspector posing as a buyer
Show answer
d) a shop inspector posing as a buyer
