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

Opposite in meaning

11+Chapter 3 · Lesson 2

In this lesson

Your turn

Generous, wet, early. Mean, damp, soon. Which two are opposites?

Show the answer

Generous and mean! A generous person shares, and a mean person won't.

The common mistake

Here's a common mistake. Ancient, noisy, kind. Old, modern, loud. Ancient and old are a strong pair, so lots of people pick them. But they mean the same! The opposite of ancient is modern.

Try it at home

Opposite tennis: one person says a word, the other must say its opposite straight back (ancient, modern; generous, mean). Keep a list of the tricky pairs.

Read the whole lesson

Hello, and welcome to Myriora English! This time, find one word in each group, so that the two words are opposite in meaning. Tall, happy, quick. Glad, short, fast. Tall and short are opposites!

Here's how to do it. Take each word in the first group, and say its opposite out loud. Then look for that opposite in the second group. Happy and glad mean the same, so they're not the answer. Quick and fast mean the same too.

Here's a tip. Some opposites are made with a prefix, like kind and unkind. But in these questions, the opposite is often a completely different word. Ancient and modern. Generous and mean. Learning pairs like these really helps.

Let's try one together. Open, fast, small. Shut, quick, little. Which two are opposites? Say it out loud!

Open and shut! Fast and quick mean the same, and so do small and little. Well done if you said open and shut!

Here's a common mistake. Ancient, noisy, kind. Old, modern, loud. Ancient and old are a strong pair, so lots of people pick them. But they mean the same! The opposite of ancient is modern.

Your turn! Generous, wet, early. Mean, damp, soon. Which two are opposites? Pick the right card. You've got eight seconds, or pause the video. Go!

Time's up! Generous and mean! A generous person shares, and a mean person won't.

Quick review. Say the opposite of each word in the first group. Look for it in the second group. Watch out for pairs that mean the same: they're the trap. See you next time!