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Synonyms and Antonyms for ESL

Improve Vocabulary by Learning Through Similar Words and Opposites

Students taking notes.
Ulrich Wechselberger/Wikimedia Commons

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Updated on January 28, 2019

Learning synonyms and antonyms helps build vocabulary. English learners can use the charts below to begin learning how to use this technique. Teachers can print out the charts as examples for students to follow.

To begin with, here are definitions:

Synonym

A word or phrase that means that same, or nearly the same as another word or phrase.

big - large
heavy - weighty
thin - slim

Antonym

Example Synonym and Antonym Charts

Adjectives: Beginning Level

Nouns: Beginning to Intermediate Levels

Word	Synonym	Antonym	Example Sentences
big	large	small	He has a big house in California. She has a small apartment in Manhattan.
difficult	hard	easy	The test was very difficult. I think riding a bike is easy.
new	recent	used	I bought a recent book. She drives a used car.
clean	tidy	dirty	He keeps his house tidy. The car is dirty and needs to be washed.
safe	secure	dangerous	The money is secure in the bank. Walking through downtown at midnight is dangerous.
friendly	outgoing	unfriendly	Tom is outgoing with everyone. There are many unfriendly people in this town.
good	great	bad	That's a great idea! He's a bad tennis player.
cheap	inexpensive	expensive	Homes are inexpensive at the moment. That car is very expensive.
interesting	fascinating	boring	That's a fascinating story. That TV show is boring.
quiet	still	noisy	It's nice and still in this room. The children are very noisy today.

Word	Synonym	Antonym	Example Sentences
student	pupil	teacher	The pupils are in their seats. The teacher began the class.
owner	director	employee	The director hired three new people. The employees are very happy with their jobs.
earth	ground	water	The ground here is very rich. You need water to live.
day	daylight	night	It's daylight out. Get up! I usually go to bed early at night.
answer	response	question	What is your response? She asked him a number of questions.
beginning	start	end	The start is at 8 am. The end of the book is very good.
man	male	woman	Tim is a male. Jane is a woman.
dog	puppy	cat	I'd like to get a puppy. The cat meowed so I let her in the house.
food	cuisine	drink	Let's eat some French cuisine tonight. She had a drink after work.
boy	lad	girl	The lad is waiting for you in the other room. There are four girls in the class.

Adverbs: Intermediate

Word	Synonym	Antonym	Example Sentences
fast	quickly	slowly	He drives very quickly. I slowly walked through the park.
carefully	cautiously	carelessly	Tim walked cautiously through the room checking everything. Those who drive carelessly will probably have an accident.
always	all the time	never	She eats lunch at her desk all the time. She never goes to the dentist.
seriously	thoughtfully	thoughtlessly	He thoughtfully answered the question. She speaks about her private life thoughtlessly.
colorfully	plainly	brightly	She painted the picture plainly. He brightly spoke about his adventures.

Here are some other ideas for learning synonyms and antonyms:

Use vocabulary trees to help you organize synonyms and antonyms into categories such as things and places in the home, business-related vocabulary for work, etc.
Build word form charts based on the synonyms and antonyms you are learning.
Make synonym and antonym flash cards to quickly check your knowledge.