What does whale mean?
Word: Whale
Part of Speech: Noun
Meaning: Whale means a very large animal that lives in the sea. It looks like a fish, but it is a mammal, like a cow or a dog.
Sounds like: wail (to cry with a long, loud sound)
How do you spell whale?
Syllables: whale
Tricky part: The h after the w is not heard, so children forget it and start the word with a plain w.
Watch out for: whail, whal, wahle
Memory tip: Whale starts with wh, like what and where. Ask, what lives in the sea and sprays water? A whale.
Idioms and Phrases
- have a whale of a time: to enjoy yourself very much Example: "We had a whale of a time at the beach on Sunday."
Whale in a sentence
Example 1: We saw a whale spray water high into the air.
Example 2: The children watched a film about whales in the science class.
Example 3: A blue whale is longer than our school bus.
Fun Fact
The blue whale is the biggest animal known to have ever lived, bigger than even the largest dinosaurs.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) whale
b) whaile
c) whayle
d) whail
Show answer
a) whale. Whale ends a-l-e, the same way as male and tale.
Word Chain
Complete the word sequence:
mouse, cat, horse, ____
a) goat
b) hen
c) rabbit
d) whale
Show answer
d) whale. Each animal is bigger than the one before, and only the whale is bigger than a horse.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
lhawe
a) whale
b) whlae
c) whela
d) whael
Show answer
a) whale. Start with the wh you can see in the jumble; a, l and e then finish the word.
Word Cookie
Insert the correct letter to form a word:
wha_e
a) l
b) r
c) k
d) t
Show answer
a) l. Only an l in the gap gives the name of the sea animal.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which group of animals all live in the sea?
a) whale, shark, octopus
b) whale, frog, eagle
c) whale, camel, parrot
d) whale, deer, tortoise
Show answer
a) whale, shark, octopus
2. Why does a whale come up to the top of the sea from time to time?
a) to breathe in fresh air
b) to look at the sky
c) to warm up in the sun
d) to search for land
Show answer
a) to breathe in fresh air
