Touch or Feel?

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What Is the Difference between "Touch" and "Feel"?

"Touch" and "feel" are easy to confuse, especially for English learners.

• "Touch" means to come in contact physically with something. For example:
• If you touch the wire, you lose.
• "Feel" means to touch something to learn about it. For example:
• Feel the shark's skin. It is rougher than it looks.

More about "Touch" and "Feel"

"Touch" and "feel" have similar meanings, but there is a subtle difference between them.

Touch

The verb "to touch" means to make physical contact with something (usually with the hand or finger).

Example sentences with "touch":

• The paint is wet. Do not touch it.
• For a moment, our fingers touched.
(In these two examples, "touch" means to make physical contact. This is the most common meaning of "to touch.")

"Touch" can also be used figuratively with the meaning to invoke a feeling of affection, gratitude, or sympathy. For example:

• Your painting touched me.
(Here, "touch" means to invoke a feeling of emotion.)

As a noun, "touch" is a small amount of something. For example:

The mixture needs a touch of sugar.

(Here, "touch" is a noun. It means a small amount.)

Feel

The verb "to feel" means to be aware of something (or to learn about something) by touching it. It also means to experience an emotion or sensation.

Example sentences with "feel":

• Feel the softness of this material.
(Here, "to feel" means to learn about something by touching it.)
• I feel excited for the holiday.
(Here, "to feel" means to experience an emotion.)

Even More about "Touch" and "Feel"

Here, for completeness, are all five forms of the verb "to touch":

No.	Verb Form	Example
1	Base Form	touch
2	The -S Form (also called the Third Person Singular Present Tense Form)	touches
3	Past Form	touched
4	The -ING Form (also called the Present Participle Form)	touching
5	The Past Participle Form	touched

Here are all five forms of the verb "to feel":

No.	Verb Form	Example
1	Base Form	feel
2	The -S Form (also called the Third Person Singular Present Tense Form)	feels
3	Past Form	felt
4	The -ING Form (also called the Present Participle Form)	feeling
5	The Past Participle Form	felt

Ready for the Test?