Theme

Communication: synonyms worth the distinction

Speech verbs and their nouns are unusually crowded. An accent can be a dialect or a stress, and which one you mean is settled by the sentence around it, never by the word alone. Expect a lot of near misses on this shelf that are perfectly good words for a neighbouring sense.

263 words · 277 audited pairs · 5 of 5 tiers represented

Start hereOne per tier, easiest first

accentverb, nounstressput stress onFoothills2 sensesHas a reason line acceptverbconsentgive an affirmative reply toTreeline2 sensesHas a reason line absolveverbfreelet off the hookRidgelineHas a reason line

The whole shelfGrouped by difficulty tier

FoothillsTier 1 · everyday words · 73 words

Words you already use, paired with a synonym you probably also know.

Every word at Foothills, across all themes

TreelineTier 2 · one step up · 78 words

Familiar words, with a synonym that sits slightly outside daily speech.

Every word at Treeline, across all themes

RidgelineTier 3 · solid vocabulary · 88 words

The middle of the bank, where the near misses start to bite.

Every word at Ridgeline, across all themes

High CampTier 4 · testing · 52 words

Words that turn up in serious reading rather than in conversation.

Every word at High Camp, across all themes

SummitTier 5 · rare and formal · 13 words

The rare register: literary, legal and technical English.

Every word at Summit, across all themes

Communication is one shelf of many

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