About Synonym Pick
A synonym is a word that means the same, or very nearly the same, as another. "Large" is a synonym of "big". "Weary" is a synonym of "tired". Synonym Pick tests how many of these pairs you know.
How it works
Each question gives you a word and four choices. One of them is its synonym. Tap it, and the game marks the right answer in green before moving on.
The pairs run in both directions. You might be shown "big" and asked to find "large", or shown "large" and asked to find "big". The three wrong choices are taken from other pairs, so every option is a real word with a clear meaning of its own.
There are fifty-five pairs in the game, ranging from the very easy to a few that will make you think, such as "ponder", "conceal" and "feeble". A round is ten questions.
Choosing well
Put the word in a sentence. Take "retain". Now swap in each choice: "Please keep your ticket" works. "Please donate your ticket" does not. The one that leaves the sentence meaning the same thing is the synonym.
Look for the closest, not just the related. "Shout" and "talk" both involve speaking, but "yell" is the synonym. When two options seem possible, ask which one you could swap in without changing the strength of the word.
Mind the part of speech. A verb's synonym is a verb. If the word is a describing word, so is the answer.
Rule out opposites. Test writers love to include them, and here they turn up by chance. "Begin" and "finish" are linked in the mind, which makes the wrong one tempting.
Learn the ones you miss. The game shows the answer every time.
For building vocabulary, HTML5 games like this are quick and painless practice.