Synonyms

Concept: Similar Words

There are few words having the same or nearly the same meaning as another word. We call them synonyms.

Examples:

1. This is a picture of a home or house . The words are different, but the meanings of the words are the same.
2. Similarly, look at the words below:


happy    or    joyful

Look at the picture. The girl is happy. Can we say the girl is joyful? Yes, we can!Though Happy and joyful are two different words, they mean the same thing.

Let’s try to find other synonyms:

1. The boy in the below picture is sleeping. Can you guess a similar word that also means sleep? Corrects! It’s a nap.


sleep    or    nap

Sleep and nap are two different words that mean the same thing. Therefore, we can call ‘sleep’ and ‘nap’ similar words.

2. The words shop and store are different words that mean the place where you can buy things at is called a shop or store.


shop    or    store

Why do we learn similar words?

• Similar words or synonyms are the words that mean exactly or nearly the same. If you are a writer and repeatedly use the same words to describe something, it will become repetitive. Similar words allow us to avoid repetition and provide variety in our writing and speech.
• Synonym helps us to expand our vocabulary. The more we learn synonyms, the larger our vocabulary will become.

Here are some synonyms we use every day:

• Big: Huge
• Small: Tiny
• Child: Kid
• Good: Fine
• Earlier: Before
• Rich: Wealthy
• Many: Lot
• Slow: Lazy
• Mouse: Rat
• Right: Correct
• Start: Begin
• Always: Forever
• Listen: Hear
• Wrong: Incorrect
• Beautiful: Pretty
• Quick: Fast
• Woman: Lady
• Sick: Ill
• Trip: Journey
• Rock: Stone



Common Mistake:

1. Similar words are two different words that describe the same thing. But the two different words can’t be a combination of a naming word and a describing word or an action word and a naming word. Both have to be naming words, action words, or describing words.

   speak; speech

   speak; talk

2. Do not use similar words in the same sentence to talk about one thing only.

   Sonali is listens and hears songs every day.

   Sonali hears songs every day.