Basic Details
Word: Volcano
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: A mountain or opening in the earth's surface through which hot melted rock, ash and gases burst out.
Word origin: Named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire, through the Italian word vulcano.
How to Spell Volcano
Syllables: vol - ca - no
Tricky part: The singular ends in a plain o with no e (volcanoe is wrong), and the first vowel is o, not a.
Watch out for: volcanoe, valcano, volcanno
Memory tip: Three syllables, three vowels in order: vOl-cA-nO. The e only arrives in the plural, volcanoes.
Usage Examples
Example 1: Mount Fuji in Japan is a volcano that last erupted in 1707.
Example 2: For the science fair, Rahul built a model volcano that fizzed with baking soda and vinegar.
Example 3: Ash from the volcano drifted for hundreds of kilometres.
Fun Fact
Barren Island in the Andaman Sea is India's best-known active volcano and has erupted several times since 1991.
Practise the CREST Way
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
Red lava poured down the sides of the ancolvo all through the night.
a) cannon
b) volcanic
c) volcano
d) balcony
Show answer
c) volcano. Lava pours from a volcano, and the jumble's two o's, one c and one n match it exactly.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct pair of letters to complete the word:
v_lc_no
a) e, a
b) o, o
c) a, a
d) o, a
Show answer
d) o, a. Say it slowly - vol-ca-no - and you hear the o and then the a.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. avalanche 2. volcanoe 3. tsunami 4. earthquake
a) a sudden, violent shaking of the ground
b) a huge sea wave caused by an undersea earthquake
c) an opening in the earth through which lava bursts out
d) a large mass of snow sliding down a mountain
Show answer
c) an opening in the earth through which lava bursts out. The singular ends in o; only the plural, volcanoes, has an e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. What is the hot melted rock that flows out of a volcano called?
a) coal
b) lava
c) steam
d) ash
Show answer
b) lava
2. A volcano that has not erupted for many thousands of years and is not expected to again is called ____.
a) erupting
b) active
c) extinct
d) molten
Show answer
c) extinct
