Meaning & use
chipmunk
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A small North American animal with brown fur, stripes on its back, and a bushy tail, related to the squirrel.
Grammar: Countable: one chipmunk, two chipmunks.
Patterns
- a chipmunk in the garden
- a chipmunk on a tree stump
We saw a chipmunk dart across the path and disappear into the bushes.
The children left nuts on the fence, hoping a chipmunk would come.
A chipmunk sat on a rock, its cheeks full of seeds.
Word forms
| plural | chipmunks |
|---|
Common combinations
- a chipmunk's cheeks
- A chipmunk's cheeks can stretch to hold a lot of food.
- a chipmunk scurrying
- I watched a chipmunk scurrying along the top of the wall.
- a chipmunk hole
- The dog dug up a chipmunk hole near the shed.
- a chipmunk in the garden
- There's a chipmunk in the garden again, stealing the birdseed.
- a chipmunk's stripes
- You can tell a chipmunk by its stripes.
Synonyms and how they differ
- ground squirrel
- A broader term: ground squirrels live on the ground and include chipmunks, but not all ground squirrels have stripes.
- squirrel
- A more general word for the whole family; chipmunks are smaller and have stripes, while most squirrels do not.
Word family
- chipmunk noun
- The animal itself.
Commonly confused: chipmunk or squirrel?
chipmunk vs squirrel
Squirrels are usually larger and lack the stripes on the back that chipmunks have.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'chipmunk' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Chipmunks are small, tree-climbing rodents, so running up a tree with an acorn fits. They do not bark like dogs, swim in the ocean, or resemble bears.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “chipmunk”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.