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Vocabulary Builder Study Notes

Synonym Sets

📖Definition

Synonym Sets questions give a target word and several sets of words. You choose the set in which all the words have similar meanings to the target.

Knowledge Required

You need to recognise clusters of related words, not just one matching word.

How To Answer

Find the meaning of the target word first.
Check every word in a possible set. One wrong word makes the whole set wrong.
Watch for sets that are internally similar but match a different meaning from the target.

✏️Example

Find the set of words with similar meanings to ABUNDANT. plentiful, ample, copious, profuse

Solution

Abundant means more than enough. Plentiful, ample, copious and profuse all carry the idea of a large supply, so this set matches the target.

💡Multiple Choice Tip

A distractor set can be a good synonym set for another word, such as shrewd, clever, perceptive, sharp. It is wrong if it does not match the target word.

💡Tips/hints

Read the whole set before choosing. Do not pick a set because the first word works.
If one word in a set feels out of place, eliminate that set and move on.