Words that start with M

Mortar is used to hold things like bricks together when you are building a house or other building. Mortar is made from sand mixed with cement or lime, and sets hard.

A mortarboard is the headgear traditionally worn at graduation ceremonies.

A mosaic is a picture made from lots of tiny colored pieces. Traditionally, mosaics were made from pieces of tile, stone or glass. Modern mosaics can be made from photographs.

A mosquito is a common insect that flies. Mosquitoes have a very sharp, hollow tongue that they use to stick through your skin and drink your blood. Some mosquitoes carry very dangerous diseases which can make you very sick. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in water, and the baby mosquitoes live in the water until they turn into the adults. It is a good idea to make sure you have no uncovered water in your backyard for mosquitoes to lay eggs in.

Mosses are tiny plants, usually around a centimeter tall. They grow in damp, shady places in clumps, so they often form large green mats.
Mosses don't have flowers or seeds. Instead, they grow spores just like mushrooms and ferns do.
The picture is taken very close up of some moss that is barely 1cm tall. You can clearly see the spore pods sticking up from the moss.

Moths are very similar to butterflies and have a similar lifecycle. They changes completely as they go through their life. A moth starts as an egg, which hatches into a caterpillar or grub. The caterpillar then spins a cocoon and turns into the adult moth. Caterpillars spend all of their time eating. Some moth caterpillars eat leaves, others eat leaf litter on the ground, and others will eat holes through the trunks of trees.
Moths are generally not as brightly coloured as butterflies, and are more likely to be seen at night than during the day. Moths are attracted to light.

A motor is a device that powers a car, truck or other machine and makes it move.

Moulds, also spelt mold, are a kind of very tiny fungus that grow into filaments, or strands. Mould is usually thought of as something that grows on food when it goes off and starts to rot. The picture is of some mouldy cheese.

A mound is a raised part of the ground that is larger than a pile of dirt but smaller than a hill. Mounds can be naturally occurring, but most of the time mounds are made by people piling up some dirt. Burial mounds were used by some civilizations to mark the place of a grave.
Mounds can also be used to describe a large pile of something that isn't dirt. For example, you might have a mound of paperwork or a mound of laundry.

Mountains are very big hills, and are usually steep and rocky. Some mountains are so high they have snow on the top.