Basic Details
Word: Cried
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: Shed tears, or called out loudly. It is the past tense of cry.
Synonyms: wept, sobbed, shouted, called
Antonyms: laughed
How to Spell Cried
Syllables: cried
Tricky part: The y of cry changes to i before ed, so it is cried, not cryed. The same rule gives tried and dried.
Watch out for: cryed, cride, creid
Memory tip: When a consonant comes before the y, the y turns to i and takes ed: cry, cried; fry, fried.
Usage Examples
Example 1: The baby cried until his mother picked him up.
Example 2: Seeing the bus pull away, Rohan cried out to the driver to wait.
Example 3: We all cried at the end of the film about the lost puppy.
Fun Fact
Town criers once walked the streets ringing a handbell and shouting out the news, and their job title comes from the same verb as cried.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Three words in the list are spelt correctly and one is not. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. denied 2. replied 3. dried 4. cryed
a) gave an answer
b) shed tears or called out loudly
c) removed the water from something
d) said that something is not true
Show answer
b) shed tears or called out loudly. Dried, replied and denied all turn y into i before ed; cryed forgets to.
Word Connection
Choose the word closest in meaning to cried as used in the sentence:
"Help, I'm stuck!" cried the boy from the bottom of the dry well near the mango orchard.
a) sang
b) shouted
c) whispered
d) laughed
Show answer
b) shouted. Here cried means called out loudly, so shouted fits.
Mingle-Mangle
The jumbled word in the sentence hides a real word. Choose it:
The little girl ecird when her red balloon floated up into the sky.
a) cider
b) cries
c) dried
d) cried
Show answer
d) cried. A child who loses a balloon cried; cider is an apple drink, and cries and dried each need a letter that is not given.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word follows the same spelling rule as cried?
a) stayed
b) obeyed
c) played
d) applied
Show answer
d) applied
2. Cried can mean wept or ____.
a) ran quickly
b) slept late
c) ate slowly
d) called out loudly
Show answer
d) called out loudly
