What does touching mean?
Word: Touching
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Touching means stirring feelings of tenderness, sympathy or sadness. It can also mean being in contact with something.
Synonyms: tender, heart-warming
How do you spell touching?
Syllables: touch - ing
Tricky part: The ou says the short u of cup, so students write tuching. The tch also trips some up (touhing, toutching).
Watch out for: tuching, toutching, touchin
Memory tip: Touch shares its ou with young, double and country, where ou also makes a short u sound.
Touching in a sentence
Example 1: The farewell song the juniors sang for us was really touching.
Example 2: Stop touching the wet paint on the gate.
Example 3: It was touching to see Grandpa hold his first grandchild.
Fun Fact
Fingertips are packed with touch receptors, which is why people who read Braille use them to feel the raised dots.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word touching as it is used in the sentence:
Grandpa's letter to his old school friend was so touching that we all had tears in our eyes.
a) amusing
b) painful
c) moving
d) dull
Show answer
c) moving. A moving letter stirs the feelings, which is just what touching means here.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the letters in the sentence to form a meaningful word:
It was a ginhotuc moment when the lost puppy ran back to the little girl.
a) couching
b) touching
c) slouching
d) vouching
Show answer
b) touching. Look for the t in the jumble: none of the other three options has one.
Word Makeup
Only one of these words takes ing with no change to its spelling. Choose it:
a) touch
b) make
c) run
d) write
Show answer
a) touch. Make and write drop their e before ing, and run doubles its n; touch simply adds ing.
Spell-o-Spell
Read the four words. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word:
1. touching 2. farewell 3. embarrassed 4. gratitute
a) the act of saying goodbye
b) making people feel warmth and pity
c) feeling shy and awkward
d) the feeling of being thankful
Show answer
d) the feeling of being thankful. Gratitude ends in tude, the same ending as attitude and altitude.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. In which sentence is touching used to describe a feeling?
a) His head is touching the roof.
b) The old letter was so touching.
c) The two wires are touching.
d) Please stop touching the cake.
Show answer
b) The old letter was so touching.
2. After a touching film, many people find that they ____.
a) fall asleep halfway through
b) want to dance all night
c) have a lump in their throat
d) cannot stop giggling at it
Show answer
c) have a lump in their throat
