Synonyms (continued)

Although synonyms have similar meanings they do not always mean the exact same thing. Usually, to be able to tell whether two words have the same meaning, we rely on something called a context clue. A context clue is information from the sentence that helps us to understand the meaning of the word.

Example

• John was such a jolly child, he was happy all the time.

By including the clause "he was happy all the time", we are able to tell that the word "jolly" must have a similar meaning to the word ‘happy’.

Example

• The elephant was so enormous* it filled up the whole room.

The clause ‘it filled up the whole room’ tells us that the word enormous has to do with size. If the elephant fills up the room, it must be large which tells us the word enormous means big.