ISEE Lower Level

What a synonym is

A synonym is a word with nearly the same meaning as another. Two words are rarely identical in meaning, so the aim is to find the word that is closest, and the others will differ in meaning, in strength or in how they are used. "Enormous" and "large" are synonyms, yet enormous is stronger, and "quick" and "hasty" are close but hasty suggests doing something carelessly.

A synonym question shows one word and asks for the word closest to it from a short list. The words are ones a student of this age meets in school books and stories, so the work is mostly knowing words well and, when a word is new, working out what it probably means.

Think of your own word first

Before looking at the choices, say what the word means in your own words or think of a word you would use in its place. Then look for that word or something close to it. Looking at the choices first is risky because every choice is a real word and some will seem to fit if you let them.

For "MEAGER", a student might think "very small in amount", and then look for a word such as "scanty" among the choices. A choice like "hungry" is tempting because meagre meals are connected to hunger, but it names a feeling, not an amount.

Part of speech

A synonym must be the same part of speech as the word given. A noun has a noun as a synonym, a verb a verb and an adjective an adjective, which removes some choices at once.

If one word could be a noun or a verb, such as "pitch" or "cover", try a sentence for each use and see which meaning is supported by the choices. A sentence of your own helps: "The explorers began the journey at dawn" shows journey is a thing that happens, so the synonym is something that happens, and "trip" fits.

Shades of meaning

Words in the same group differ in degree. The adjectives "warm", "hot" and "scorching" run from mild to extreme, and "tired", "weary" and "exhausted" run from slight to complete. When several choices are related, pick the one whose strength matches. A word like "furious" is closer to "enraged" than to "annoyed", though all three describe anger.

Words also carry a positive or negative feeling. "Thrifty" and "stingy" both describe someone who does not spend much, but thrifty is praise and stingy is criticism. "Slender" and "skinny" are the same: a synonym for "slender" should carry the same approving feeling.

Words with more than one meaning

Many words have several meanings, and the question may use a less common one. "Fair" can mean just, light in colour, or a gathering with rides and stalls. "Bank" can mean the side of a river or a place to keep money. If the most familiar meaning does not match any choice, try another.

A useful test is to put a choice into a sentence where the original word goes and see whether the sentence keeps its meaning. "The judge was fair" and "The judge was just" say the same, while "The judge was light in colour" does not.

When the word is unfamiliar

Several clues can help.

• Word parts give the meaning in pieces. The word "unhappily" contains "un-" (not), "happy" and "-ly" (in a way).
• A word may remind you of a family of words you know. "Humid" looks like "humidity", which is about moisture in the air.
• The feel of the word or a sentence you have heard it in can suggest whether it is positive or negative.
• Wrong choices can be removed, so even with no certain answer the choices that clearly do not fit can be set aside.

For "BAFFLED", a student who has never met it can notice that it is an adjective describing a person in a sentence such as "He looked baffled by the map". A person who stares at a map without finding the way is confused, so "puzzled" is the closest choice, and choices like "angry" or "proud" do not suit the picture.

Common traps

A wrong choice is often related to the word without meaning the same. For "GENEROUS", a choice such as "wealthy" is related because generous people often give money, but it does not mean the same thing. A wrong choice can also be an opposite: for "ANCIENT", the word "modern" is wrong and "very old" is right. A wrong choice can also match a different meaning of the word, so "bark" may tempt with a choice about trees when the word is used for the sound a dog makes.

The fix in each case is to state the meaning of the word first, then ask of each choice whether it could replace the word in a sentence without changing what the sentence says.