You may have already looked at antonyms (words meaning the opposite to each other) but now here’s a challenge about synonyms.

Can you help us out with these, word detective?
 

 

What do you notice about the words below?

irate        annoyed        furious

 

They all mean the same thing…angry!

 

 

These words are called synonyms.

Synonyms are words that mean the same or have a very similar meaning to other words.

We could also use the following words as synonyms for angry: exasperated, vexed and cross.

 

 

Which of the following are synonyms for sad?

forlorn        tired        melancholy        depressed        gleeful        glum

 

Forlorn, melancholy, depressed and glum are all synonyms for sad as they mean the same or a similar thing.

 

A thesaurus is a great resource to use to look up synonyms for words.

 

Let’s try another:

We need to select a word from the left set of brackets that is a synonym for a word in the right set of brackets.

There is only one possible pair.

(absurd, cowardly, insane)    (forlorn, ridiculous, performer)

 

The answers are absurd and ridiculous, as they both mean silly and unbelievable.

 

Try this one too:

(valuable broken memorable)    (faulty disregarded unnecessary)

 

The answers are broken and faulty as they both mean something doesn't work and is defective.

 

 

Pssstt!! Here’s a handy hint to help you reach superstar status:

The first letter of the word synonym is the same as the first letter for similar.  

It’s a clever trick to remember what synonym means.

 

 

If you come across any new words in this activity, make a note of them so that you can use them in your writing.

 

 

It’s now your turn to identify synonyms.  

Good luck!