What does tearful mean?
Word: Tearful
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Tearful means crying, or close to crying, often because you feel very moved, sad or happy.
Synonyms: weepy
How do you spell tearful?
Syllables: tear - ful
Tricky part: The middle sounds like the ear in near. Children often write eer or ier there, but it is spelt ear.
Watch out for: teerful, tierful
Memory tip: Touch your ear as you write the middle: that sound is spelt the same way as the word ear.
Tearful in a sentence
Example 1: Mum was tearful with joy when my baby brother said his first word.
Example 2: It was a tearful goodbye when our cousins flew back to Canada.
Example 3: The film's happy ending left the whole audience tearful.
Fun Fact
Even when you are not tearful, your eyes make a thin layer of tears all day to keep them clean and moist.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
tearfull
a) l
b) r
c) f
d) u
Show answer
a) l. A single l closes the word; the other one here is spare.
Mingle-Mangle
Form a meaningful word from the jumbled letters:
rufleat
a) tearlfu
b) tearflu
c) tearful
d) tearufl
Show answer
c) tearful. Everything hangs on the last three letters: only one order can be said aloud.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the correctly spelt word:
a) hankerchief
b) suitcace
c) farewel
d) tearful
Show answer
d) tearful. Farewell ends in a double l, handkerchief has a d after the n, and suitcase ends in case.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
Nani gave me a tearful hug at the station befor my train left.
a) befor
b) tearful
c) train
d) station
Show answer
a) befor. Before ends with an e.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Anu was tearful at the end of the film. What could you see on her face?
a) wet eyes and cheeks
b) a puzzled little frown
c) a smudge of blue paint
d) a wide, sleepy yawn
Show answer
a) wet eyes and cheeks
2. Raj became tearful with joy. What could explain this?
a) he brushed his teeth before bed
b) he won a medal after years of practice
c) he waited a while for the bus
d) he tied his shoelaces for school
Show answer
b) he won a medal after years of practice
