Words / A1

KAT-uh-pil-uh/ˈkætəpɪlə/

A caterpillar is a small long animal that eats leaves and later becomes a butterfly or a moth. Countable: a caterpillar, caterpillars. A worm has no legs and lives in soil; a caterpillar has many tiny legs. A beetle already has a hard back. Mix-up: cathedral (a big church) — much longer word.

Meaning

A small long animal that eats leaves and later becomes a butterfly.

Examples

• “The caterpillar is on the cabbage leaf.”
• “The caterpillar ate a hole in the leaf.”
• “Soon this caterpillar will make a cocoon.”

Good to know

a caterpillar (becomes a butterfly). Contrast: worm (no legs), beetle (hard back).

New