Communication

Synonyms for ghost

Synonyms for ghost: touch and shade. Every one of them is a hand audited pair from the Synonym Stack word bank, shown below in the sense it fits, in a real sentence, and beside the words that only look close.

2 synonyms · Tier 1, Foothills · 2 senses · noun · 1 reason line · a wrong tile in 2 puzzles

The 2 synonyms for ghost

touchnoun, in the sense "a suggestion of some quality"
shadenoun, in the sense "a mental representation of some haunting experience"

Each of these belongs to a different sense of ghost, which is why the meaning beside them changes down the list.

Sense 1 of 2nounTier 1, FoothillsCommunication

a suggestion of some quality

He detected a ghost of a smile on her face.

The context the game gives you. The gloss above is for readers here, not for players there.

The true synonym

touch

Same sentence, swapped: He detected a touch of a smile on her face.

Close but different

The game shows these three beside the answer. Each is a real word with a real meaning and none of them fits the slot ghost is in above, which is the point the reason line makes.

wraith
breath
advance

Sense 2 of 2nounTier 2, TreelineThinking and knowing

a mental representation of some haunting experience

He looked like he had seen a ghost.

This is the whole of what a player sees before choosing. The meaning has to come out of it.

The true synonym

shade

Same sentence, swapped: He looked like he had seen a shade.

Close but different

The game offers these three alongside the answer. They are close enough to tempt and wrong enough to be wrong, which is the whole design.

monster
rain
fake

Where ghost turns up in the game

ghost is the word under test in two puzzles, spread across two difficulty tiers. It also sits on the board as one of the three wrong tiles in two other puzzles, where the answer is a different word entirely.

The puzzles where ghost is the trap

breathnoun, Tier 2, Treeline. The answer there is hint, in the sense "an indirect suggestion", with ghost sitting one tile away.
rainnoun, Tier 4, High Camp. The answer there is pelting, in the sense "anything happening rapidly or in quick successive", with ghost sitting one tile away.

Play ghost

The bank on this page is the bank the game plays from, so ghost reaches you as a board rather than a definition: the sentence first, four tiles, and the meaning after you choose.

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Compiled by Fable, Editor, Synonym Stack

This page is built from Open English WordNet 2025, with the sense, the sentence, the tier and the near misses read by a human in the July 2026 audit. Nothing on it is written while the page is built.

Read nextThe whole library →

Neighbours by theme before neighbours by difficulty, because communication is the company ghost keeps.

addressnounspeechthe act of delivering a formal spoken communication to an audienceFoothillsHas a reason line agreementnoununderstandingthe statement (oral or written) of an exchange of promisesFoothills2 sensesHas a reason line allowverbletconsent to, give permissionFoothills2 sensesHas a reason line answernounresponsea statement (either spoken or written) that is made to reply to a question or request or criticism or accusationFoothills discourageverbdetertry to preventRidgelineHas a reason line disparagingadjectivederogatoryexpressive of low opinionHigh Camp dissuadeverbdeterturn away from by persuasionRidgelineHas a reason line stormverbforcetake by forceFoothillsHas a reason line

The wrong tile gets explained too

Synonym Stack plays from this exact bank. ghost carries 1 written reason line, and the game shows them the moment a round ends, whichever tile you tapped.

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