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Myriora Verbal Reasoning › 11+ verbal reasoning › Chapter 3: Word meanings

Closest in meaning

11+Chapter 3 · Lesson 1

In this lesson

Your turn

Brave, early, soft. Late, hard, fearless. Which two are closest in meaning?

Show the answer

Brave and fearless! Early and late, and soft and hard, are opposites.

The common mistake

Here's a common mistake. Cup, sofa, hat. Saucer, couch, head. Cup and saucer go together, so lots of people pick them. But they don't mean the same thing. Sofa and couch do.

Try it at home

Synonym snap: say a word (happy, big, shout) and race to say another word that means the same (glad, large, yell). Then make two groups of three with only one matching pair.

Read the whole lesson

Hello, and welcome to Myriora English! Here are two groups of words. Find one word in each group, so that the two words are closest in meaning. Happy, tall, wet. Glad, short, dry. Happy and glad mean almost the same!

Here's how to do it. Take each word in the first group, and think of a word that means the same. Then look for it in the second group. Tall and short are opposites, not the same. Wet and dry are opposites too. So happy and glad is the only pair.

Here's a useful check. The two words should be the same kind of word. Run, big, quiet. Fast, sprint, loud. Fast goes with running, but fast is a describing word, and run is a doing word. Run and sprint are both doing words, and they mean almost the same.

Let's try one together. Shout, sleep, cold. Yell, warm, wake. Which two are closest in meaning? Say it out loud!

Shout and yell! They both mean speaking very loudly. Well done if you said shout and yell!

Here's a common mistake. Cup, sofa, hat. Saucer, couch, head. Cup and saucer go together, so lots of people pick them. But they don't mean the same thing. Sofa and couch do.

Your turn! Brave, early, soft. Late, hard, fearless. Which two are closest in meaning? Pick the right card. You've got eight seconds, or pause the video. Go!

Time's up! Brave and fearless! Early and late, and soft and hard, are opposites.

Quick review. Find a word in each group with almost the same meaning. Opposites, and words that just go together, don't count. Check they're the same kind of word. See you next time!