Vocabulary Building: SYNONYMS

Synonyms are words that have nearly or similar meaning.

Ex: house mansion, igloo, palace, condominium
happy jubilant, merry, joy, excited
new fresh, modern, latest, recent
delicate fragile

Antonyms are words with opposite meaning

Ex: happy gloomy, depressed, disheartened, sad, lonely
new old-fashioned, aged, old
delicate coarse, crude, common

EXERCISES:

Exercise 1. Indicate whether the pairs of words are synonyms or antonyms

1. Arrogant proud
2. optimist pessimist
3. perilous dangerous
4. ornament - decoration
5. fresh stale
6. victory defeat

Vocabulary Building: Using Contextual Clues Linguistic signals

a. Homonyms or Homophones words that sound alike but have different spellings
and meanings.
Cain cane, made maid, tail tale

b. Homographs words that are spelled the same but different in meaning. Some
homographs sound the same.
the run in my stockings; the home run he made
his blue coat; he feels blue

EXERCISES:

Exercise 1. Fill in the blanks. Complete the sentence by supplying the appropriate word
on the blank. Choose between the given words before each number.
1. right write
Did you say, _____ the _____ answer?

2. meat meet
He promised to _____ us in the _____ section of the market.
 3. knew new
We ____ there was a ____ hole near the garage.

4. by buy
Did you ____ this for the two of us ____ yourself?

5. plain plane
She wore a ____ dress which is required by the _____ attendant.

Exercise 2. Choose the meaning of the underlined word as it is used in the sentence.

1. I forgot to dress the chicken

a. to wear b. to prepare c. to adorn

2. We placed cream in our salad.

a. milk b. a kind of cosmetic c. the best from the group

3. She is the editor of our school organ.

a. a musical instrument
b. a part of the body with special function
c. a publication

4. You have to pass the bar to be a lawyer.

a. exams for lawyers
b. place offering liquor and drinks
c. something that divides or blocks

5. To start a business, one must have enough capital.

a. official seat of government
b. money to invest in the production of more wealth
c. most important factor