Synonyms and Antonyms
A synonym is a word that means almost the same as another word, while an antonym is a word that means the opposite. 11+ English papers test both skills directly, through find-the-synonym and find-the-antonym questions, and indirectly by asking pupils to explain a writer's word choice in a reading passage.
Method
- Read the word in its sentence first, since many words change meaning depending on context (a light bag is not the opposite of a light colour).
- For a synonym, think of two or three words with a similar meaning, then pick the one that still makes sense in the original sentence.
- For an antonym, check whether a simple prefix (un-, dis-, im-, ir-, in-) turns the word into its opposite before hunting for a completely different word.
- In multiple-choice questions, cross out any option that is only loosely related or has the wrong strength of meaning (for example, annoyed is not as strong as furious).
- Build a bank of word families by tone, formality and strength of feeling, since 11+ papers often test the shade of meaning rather than just the general idea.
- Check your final answer by re-reading the sentence with your chosen word in place to confirm it still makes sense.
Worked example
Choose the word closest in meaning to 'reluctant' in this sentence: 'Owen was reluctant to hand over his favourite book.' A) eager B) unwilling C) proud D) careless
- Read the sentence and notice that 'reluctant' describes how Owen feels about giving up his book.
- Think about the everyday meaning of 'reluctant': not wanting to do something, hesitant.
- Check each option against this meaning: A) eager is the opposite, C) proud and D) careless do not match the idea of hesitation.
- Option B) unwilling matches 'not wanting to do something' exactly.
- Substitute it back into the sentence: 'Owen was unwilling to hand over his favourite book' makes complete sense.
Practice questions
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Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a 11+ exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Give one synonym and one antonym for the word 'generous' as used in the sentence: 'The generous donor gave thousands of pounds to the hospital.'
(a) Choose the word closest in meaning to 'meticulous' in this sentence: 'The engineer kept meticulous records of every test.' A) careless B) careful and thorough C) brief D) confusing. (b) Give one antonym for your chosen word. (c) Explain why 'meticulous' is a stronger word choice than the plainer word 'careful'.
(a) Add a prefix to 'legal' to form its antonym. (b) Add a prefix to 'mature' to form its antonym. (c) In this group, three words are synonyms of 'brave': daring, courageous, timid, valiant. Identify the odd one out. (d) Give one synonym for the word you identified as the odd one out.
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