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?

portion        share        segment

 

They all mean the same thing…part!

 

 

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 part: section, share, serving.

 

Which of the following are synonyms for thankful?

grateful        thankless        appreciative        overjoyed        insightful

 

Grateful and appreciative are both synonyms for thankful 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.

(unaffected, ineffective, poignant)    (pursue, emotional, memorable)

 

The answers are poignant and emotional, as they both mean that they move someone emotionally.

 

Try this one too:

(communicate widespread encourage)    (dismiss personal broadcast)

 

The answers are communicate and broadcast as they both mean to spread information about something.

 

 

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!