Here are some more word quizzes for you. Most of them are multiple-choice — think carefully about them and choose the answer which you believe is correct. Watch out for hidden tricks!
Use your dictionary, discuss with friends or class-mates, but please DO NOT look for the answers before you have really had a good think about the difficult ones. And the easy ones.
Boost your WordPower 1
1 In the word ‘telescope’, the prefix tele- means:
Sending and receiving information?
At or over a distance?
Travelling through the air?
2 The same word is used to denote (a) the moon and (b) a human-made device which is sent up into space. What is that word?
3 'Span' can relate to duration or distance. It can also mean a team of oxen pulling a plough. Spaniels are popular and friendly dogs. How did they get their name?
4 Poodles are lively, intelligent dogs. Where did their name come from?
— They were once called Puddle Hounds.
— When they bark, they make a strange howling noise.
— The unpleasant smell of their thick fur when it hasn’t been washed.
5 Midday means noon. Amidst means ‘in the middle of’. A midwife is a person who helps mothers at childbirth. What is a midden?
6 When the explorer Marco Polo returned to Europe in 1295, he spoke of a place he called Terra Australis. What had he seen or heard about?
— A terrifying place.
— A land in the south.
— A new country which reminded him of Austria.
7 The three wooden stumps used in the game of cricket are called wickets or the wicket. This is because:
— The word is related to wicca, an Old English word for witch, because the game is based on an ancient magical ritual which died out when Christianity reached Britain.
— They represent a wooden gate.
— It is a quick and lazy way of saying ‘weaker’.
8 Are any of these real names for actual sports? If so, what other sport(s) are they related to?
— hurling
— shinty
— twitch
9 Which part of your body is named after a baby whose mother dipped him in the Styx, a river which ran through Hades?
10 ‘Going by Shanks’s pony’ means:
Doing handstands or somersaults?
Bouncing up and down on your bottom?
Walking?
Boost your WordPower 2
1 If you eat exotic food, you eat food which is:
— Exciting
— Naughty.
— Foreign.
2 Birds are kept in an:
Aviary?
Ovary?
Apiary?
3 Which one of these is not a vegetable?
— Broccoli.
— Cauliflower.
— Jerusalem artichoke.
— Pumpkin.
— Tomato
4 ‘Kosher’ mean ‘fit for use’. It applies specifically to food eaten by:
Armenians?
Buddhists?
Hindus?
Jews?
Russians?
5 What do these have in common?
— hide
— kid
— pelt
6 You would find a horse in a field; a seahorse in the sea; and a horse-fly in the air. Where would you find a clothes-horse?
7 When you marinate, you:
Travel to the planet Mars?
Take a long journey by sea?
Soak meat or fish in a liquid?
Argue with someone who has made a mistake?
8 A catechism is:
A type of surgery performed on female cats?
A synonym for cataclysm, meaning a terrible disaster?
A series of questions put to someone in order to find what they believe?
The swooshing noise made when a projectile leaves a catapault?
9 A lyrebird gets its name from the fact that:
— Its beautiful call sounds like a musical instrument called a lyre.
— Its strong tail feathers were used in ancient times to make musical instruments called lyres.
— Its mating behaviour is unreliable.
— When it spreads out its tail feathers they make a shape like a lyre.
— It continually adopts a defensive crouching position which makes it look as though it’s lying down.
10 In horse-riding, dressage gets its name from:
— An old French word meaning ‘to prepare’.
— The fact that the rider has to dress in a particular style.
— The name of an old city in Germany.
— Very old Scandinavian words meaning ‘wise horse’.
Boost your WordPower 3
1 What do drainpipes, flares, knickerbockers and plus-fours have in common?
2 What do these have in common and which is the odd one out?
— Chow
— Lhasa apso
— Pekingese.
— Shih-Tzu.
3 Which is the odd one out, and why?
— dearth
— famine
— paucity
— plethora
4 An oesophagus or esophagus is:
A stone coffin?
A passage leading down to your stomach?
A collection of ancient Greek stories designed to instruct?
A rare type of rodent found only in the Andes?
5 The same word, placed after each of these words, explains what they are. What are they?
— Abyssinian
— Cheshire
— Manx
— Tortoiseshell
6 Spot the mistake in each of these statements:
— Entomology is the study of the origin and use of words.
— Geneology is the study family histories.
— Meteorology is the study of heavenly bodies in orbit.
7 The second word in the name of this website and the first name of the person who compiled it are an example of an:
acronym?
amalgam?
anagram
anachronism?
aphorism?
8 The following words are called portmanteau words because they are combinations of two other words. Which two words were combined to make:
— Avionics
— Denim
— Heliport
— Moped
— Permafrost
— Sitcom
— Smog.
9 What is the original meaning of ‘portmanteau’ and why would we include these in a list of related words:
— attaché
— brief
— Gladstone
— suit.
10 You might one day encounter a polymath. What do you expect to see?
— A parrot which can recite multiplication tables.
— A rare sea creature from the western side of the Indian Ocean.
— A person of great and diversified learning.
— An unpleasant eruption on an area of your skin which has been exposed to too much sunlight.