Meaning & use
canals
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“canals” is a form of “canal”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meaning
nouncountable
Long, narrow man-made waterways built for boats, irrigation, or drainage.
Grammar: Countable noun; use 'a canal' for one and 'canals' for more than one.
Patterns
- a network of canals
- build a canal
- travel along a canal
The city is famous for its network of canals, which tourists explore by boat.
Engineers dug canals to bring water to the dry farmland.
Many old canals are now used for leisure rather than for carrying goods.
Word forms
| singular | canal |
|---|---|
| plural | canals |
Common combinations
- network of canals
- Venice is built on a network of canals.
- canal boat
- They spent the weekend on a canal boat in the countryside.
- irrigation canal
- The farmers rely on an irrigation canal to water their crops.
- canal system
- The ancient canal system helped transport goods across the region.
- build a canal
- The government plans to build a canal to connect the two rivers.
Synonyms and how they differ
Word family
- canal noun
- The singular form, meaning one such waterway.
Commonly confused: canals or channel?
canals vs channel
A channel can be natural (like the English Channel) or a passage for water; a canal is always dug by people.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
The plural subject 'canals' needs the plural verb 'are'. Option 1 has a singular verb with a plural subject, option 2 mixes singular 'canal' with plural 'are', and option 3 uses a singular verb with a plural subject.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “canals”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.