While antonyms have opposite meanings, synonyms have the same meaning. Synonyms and antonymsĪntonyms are closely related to synonyms, which are words that have identical meanings. The term antonym comes from antonymy, which is the technical grammar term for words that have contradictory meanings-but you can think of antonyms as opposites. For example, an antonym of day is night, and an antonym of on is off. The more children are exposed to a good range of vocabulary the more likely they are to use it in their writing on a regular basis.Grammarly helps you communicate confidently Write with Grammarly What is an antonym?Īntonyms are words that have opposite meanings.

Word activities, where children are given word cards with various groups of synonyms which they have to put into groups according to meaning.

They may ask them to go through and underline all the adjectives and then look up alternative, better words for these adjectives. Teachers may give children this activity to do after they have completed a piece of writing.

Giving children a thesaurus (a dictionary of synonyms and antonyms) in which to look up words to improve their vocabulary.

For example: a teacher might have a list of words similar but more interesting than 'walked', such as: trudged, scuttled, scurried, stomped, sprinted, tiptoed.

As a class, compiling lists of interesting vocabulary and making it part of the class display so children are constantly exposed to good vocabulary.

Children may be given a lists of synonyms to support them in improving their writing for example, they may have a list of words that could be used instead of 'said' such as: whispered, shouted, screamed, replied, babbled, agreed, boasted.

Providing children with laminated word banks on their tables.

Teachers encourage this expansion of vocabulary in the following ways:

As outlined in the national curriculum (revised in 2014), children in Year 6 learn the term 'synonym' and what it means.

What is synonym and antonym