Antonyms 03

This KS3 English quiz is our third on antonyms. A word that has an opposite meaning to another is known as an antonym. Learning antonyms (as well as synonyms) can really improve your English, both written and spoken.

A thesaurus is a good place to find synonyms and antonyms for words. You might have a thesaurus at home or school and can also find various versions online. Take some care when using a thesaurus to choose a new word, however. Because words have so many meanings, and are often used metaphorically, they might have antonyms which don't share the same meaning at all. For instance, if you check a thesaurus, you'll see that two of the antonyms given for "rich" are "impoverished" and "bland". These two words are not particularly close in meaning. So an "impoverished" person is not "rich", that is, wealthy, and the opposite of a "rich" food might be "bland". But a "bland" person would be the opposite of an exciting, or interesting person, rather than the opposite of a wealthy person. Think carefully about how words are used when you want to try out a new antonym!

Remember that a rich use of words is more interesting to your readers and listeners. Add more strings to your bow in our third quiz on antonyms.