What does frightening mean?
Word: Frightening
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Frightening means making you feel afraid or worried.
Synonyms: terrifying, alarming
Antonyms: comforting, reassuring, soothing
How do you spell frightening?
Syllables: fright - en - ing
Tricky part: The middle en is easy to drop when you write fast (frightning), so keep the whole of frighten at the front.
Watch out for: frightning, fritening
Memory tip: Think of a fright at night: fright sits at the front of the word, keeping its silent gh.
Frightening in a sentence
Example 1: The dark, windy night was so frightening that Pihu slept with the light on.
Example 2: Being stuck in a lift can be frightening.
Example 3: The roar of the waves sounded frightening at night.
Fun Fact
Many people find thunder frightening, yet the sound is simply the air around a lightning bolt heating up and expanding very fast.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Makeup
Choose the suffix that completes the word:
frighten____
a) ing
b) ning
c) eing
d) ening
Show answer
a) ing. Frighten already ends in n, and an unstressed ending does not double, so only ing is added.
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word: frightening
a) scary
b) boring
c) puzzling
d) cheerful
Show answer
a) scary. Scary is the everyday word for something frightening.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
gnihtgifner
a) frightening
b) brightening
c) frightened
d) tightening
Show answer
a) frightening. Brightening needs a b and tightening two t's, while frightened has a d; these letters make frightening.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) interresting
b) embarassing
c) frightening
d) surprizing
Show answer
c) frightening. Frightening is right; interesting, surprising and embarrassing have each been misspelt.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which film title sounds frightening?
a) Picnic by the Sunny Lake
b) The Clever Little Parrot
c) The Dark Cave at Midnight
d) A Birthday Cake for Mother
Show answer
c) The Dark Cave at Midnight
2. For a small child alone at night, the most frightening sound would be ____.
a) the hum of a ceiling fan
b) a bird singing outside
c) a loud crash of thunder
d) soft music on the radio
Show answer
c) a loud crash of thunder
