What does playfully mean?
Word: Playfully
Part of Speech: Adverb
Meaning: Playfully means in a fun, light-hearted way, as if playing or joking rather than being serious.
Synonyms: jokingly
How do you spell playfully?
Syllables: play - ful - ly
Tricky part: Playful ends in a single l, and ly brings a second one, so playfully has a double l before the y.
Watch out for: playfuly, playfulley
Memory tip: Two l's hold hands in the middle: one belongs to ful and the other to ly.
Playfully in a sentence
Example 1: The kitten playfully patted the ball of wool across the floor.
Example 2: Dev playfully hid his sister's slipper behind the sofa.
Example 3: The dolphins leapt playfully alongside our boat in Goa.
Fun Fact
Scientists have watched dolphins, crows and even octopuses behave playfully, tossing objects about with no clear reason except fun.
Practise the CREST Way
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) suddenley
b) quitely
c) happyly
d) playfully
Show answer
d) playfully. Happily changes its y to i, suddenly has no e before the y, and quietly has an e after the i.
Word Connection
Choose the antonym of the word:
playfully
a) gleefully
b) seriously
c) cheerfully
d) merrily
Show answer
b) seriously. Merrily, cheerfully and gleefully all describe fun; seriously is the opposite.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
yflyalpul
a) playground
b) plentifully
c) faithfully
d) playfully
Show answer
d) playfully. Playground needs a g, an r, an o and a d, and plentifully and faithfully need a t that is not here.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
The puppy playfully tugged at my scarf while we walked in the gardan.
a) scarf
b) gardan
c) tugged
d) puppy
Show answer
b) gardan. Garden ends in en, like the end of kitten.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which word is closest in meaning to playfully?
a) teasingly
b) sleepily
c) angrily
d) sadly
Show answer
a) teasingly
2. Which of these is usually done in a light-hearted, fun way?
a) a pillow fight with cousins
b) a maths exam
c) a fire drill at school
d) a dental check-up
Show answer
a) a pillow fight with cousins
