Spelling.School · How to spell

How to spell painful

Painful is spelled P-A-I-N-F-U-L.

What it means: Causing discomfort or distress.

In a sentence: Getting a splinter in your finger can be painful. ▶

The part people get wrong

Watch for an unstressed vowel that is hard to hear.

Same family: painfully, painless, pain, painfulness, ache. If you can spell one, the shared part carries to the others.

Where it comes from: Painful comes from the noun “pain,” which entered Middle English from Old French “paine,” meaning punishment or suffering, and the suffix “-ful,” meaning ‘full of.’ So the word literally means ‘full of pain.’

Try spelling it

You will hear the word and a sentence. Type it and press Enter. Then four more words from the same level, so you know where you stand.

Words like this

painless · liaison · questionnaire · embarrass · electrician · conscience · transaction · destination

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