VOCABULARY

Building Vocabulary involves time and effort. Though, it is not an easy task to complete in stipulated time. It can be achieved with determination and hard work. There are many ways to learn vocabulary conventionally or traditionally or technically through  software.


first and foremost step is reading :

Repetition of  reading different sources to enhance vocabulary is one and finding new words and using them in own sentences is two.

The Ten Best Vocabulary Learning Tips

• Vocabulary Learning Tip One: Read, Read, Read! Most vocabulary words are learned from context. The more words you're exposed to, the better vocabulary you will have. While you read, pay close attention to words you don't know. First, try to figure out their meanings from context. Then look the words up. Read and listen to challenging material so that you'll be exposed to many new words.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Two: Improve your context skills. Research shows that the vast majority of words are learned from context. To improve your context skills pay close attention to how words are used. Doing a search on a word using dejanews.com (for searching newsgroups) will give you many examples of how that word is used in context. Play our Daily Context Vocabulary Quiz.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Three: Practice, practice, practice. Learning a word won't help very much if you promptly forget it. Research shows that it takes from 10 to 20 repetitions to really make a word part of your vocabulary. It helps to write the word - both the definition and a sentence you make up using the word - perhaps on an index card that can later be reviewed. As soon as you learn a new word, start using it. Review your index cards periodically to see if you have forgotten any of your new words. Also, do a search on a word using dejanews.com (for searching newsgroups) to get many examples of how the word is actually used.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Four: Make up as many associations and connections as possible. Say the word aloud to activate your auditory memory. Relate the word to words you already know. For example, the word GARGANTUAN (very large) has a similar meaning to the words gigantic, huge, large, etc. You could make a sequence: small, medium, large, very large, GARGANTUAN. List as many things as you can that could be considered GARGANTUAN: Godzilla, the circus fat lady, the zit on your nose, etc. Create pictures of the word's meaning that involve strong emotions. Think "the GARGANTUAN creature was going to rip me apart and then eat me!"

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Five: Use mnemonics ( memory tricks). For example, consider the word EGREGIOUS (extremely bad). Think EGG REACH US - imagine we've made a mistake so bad that they are throwing eggs at us and a rotten EGG REACHes US. Such funny little word pictures will help you remember what words mean, AND they are fun to make up. Also, find out which learning style suits you best. Everyone learns differently!

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Six: Get in the habit of looking up words you don't know. If you have a dictionary program on your computer, keep it open and handy. America Online and other internet services have dictionaries and thesauruses on their tool bars. Find them and look up any word you are not absolutely sure of. Use a thesaurus when you write to find the word that fits best.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Seven: Play with words. Play Scrabble, Boggle, and do crossword puzzles. These and other word games are available for the computer, so you are not dependent on a partner to play. Also, try out the Franklin Electronic Dictionary that features built-in word games.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Eight: Use vocabulary lists. For the serious vocabulary student, there are many books that focus on the words most commonly found in standardized tests, such as the SAT and GRE. There are also many interesting word sites on the Internet, many of which will send you a word a day by email.

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Nine: Take vocabulary tests. Playing games, such as the ones on this site, that test your knowledge will help you learn new words and also let you know how much progress you're making. Offline sources for vocabulary tests include SAT prep books (we recommend "10 Real SATs" by ETS), and the Reader's Digest Wordpower section. For more, check out Amazon.com or your local bookseller.

          Go Play Our Vocabulary Games

• Vocabulary Learning Tip Ten: Get excited about words! Come to appreciate the sometimes-subtle differences between them. Do you know the difference between something that denotes something else and something that connotes something else? If not, go look it up. Learn to say what you really mean and discover the joys of being able to express yourself in writing. Your future can depend on how rich your vocabulary is. A good vocabulary will make a difference on the standardized tests, like the SAT and GRE, that could determine whether or where you go to college. It will also determine the quality of your communication. So be in it for the long pull. Let building your vocabulary be a lifelong proposition. Remember: "In the beginning was the word." Until you have a word for something, it does not exist for you. Name it, and you have made your reality richer.

What are Synonyms?

Synonyms are different words with identical or at least similar meanings. Words that are synonyms are said to be synonymous, and the state of being a synonym is called synonymy. An example of synonyms are the words car and automobile, or announcement and declaration.
CLICK HERE FOR synonyms @ Antonyms  



WHAT ARE HOMOPHONES  ?

English Homophones

Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but different meanings and (usually) spelling.

For example, the following two words have the same sound, but different meanings and spelling:
hour
our
In the next example, the two words have the same sound and spelling, but different meanings:
bear (the animal)
bear (to carry)
Usually homophones are in groups of two (our, hour), but very occasionally they can be in groups of three (to, too, two) or even four. If we take our "bear" example, we can add another word to the group"
bare (naked)
bear (the animal)
bear (to tolerate)

English (especially British English) is not spell phonetically. Two words can share none, any or all of Spelling, Pronunciation and Meaning. All languages have synonyms (words with unrelated spelling and pronunciation but the same meaning) and words with multiple meanings. However English has an exceptional disparity between spelling and pronunciation.  The possible combinations or some but all characteristics being the same are as follows:-
 

Spelling	Pronunciation	Meaning	Classification	Example
Same	Different	Different	Homonym	refuse
Different	Same	Different	Homophone	See below
Same	Same	Different	Multiple meanings	trap
Different	Different	Same	Synonym	rare/uncommon
Same	Different	Same	Alternative pronunciation	Schedule (British/American pronuncation)
Different	Same	Same	Alternative spelling	jail/gaol

This page is about homophones. Words with different meanings and spellings, but the same (UK) pronunciation. 

My collection

With the generous help of various contributors, I have now collected 441 homophones.  This is 396 pairs, 40 triples and 5 quadruples.  That is 546 pairs of homophone words.

Near misses

These are word pairs that have been suggested but rejection, for one of the following reasons:-

• Not precisely the same pronunciation.  I only reject on this grounds, if my dictionary gives different pronunciation (or is unclear) and I think there is a difference, or am not sure how one of the words in pronounced. 
  • accept, except
  • acetic, ascetic
  • advice, advise
  • affect, effect
  • axe, acts
  • axle, axil
  • deal, dele
  • caret, carrot
  • close, clothes
  • cask, casque
  • deuce, juice
  • facts, fax
  • formerly, formally
  • halve, have
  • hostel, hostile
  • ion, iron
  • jota, jotter
  • liar, layer
  • loch, lock
  • mana, manna
  • ordinance, ordnance
  • paw/pore/pour, poor
  • pecan, pekan
  • picture, pitcher
  • plaintiff, plaintive
  • prince, prints
  • presence, presents
  • tense, tents
  • wan, won
• The two spellings have a meaning in common.  Even if each spelling has distinct meanings, any common mean classifies them as alternative spellings rather than homophones.  (American, or other non-British, spellings are ignored for this purpose.)
  • ambiance, ambience
  • assay, essay
  • aught, ought
  • cot, cote
  • depositary, depository
  • forbear, forebear
  • forego, forgo
  • gage, gauge
  • gel, jell
  • genet, jennet
  • gibe, gybe
  • gray, grey
  • grill, grille
  • groin, groyne
  • gunnel, gunwale
  • hippie, hippy
  • main, maine
  • prise, prize
  • ray, re
  • ton, tonne
• It would be double counting.  If two forms of two words are different homophones, then I only count a single example.
  I list complement/compliment and hence don't list complementary/complimentary.  I normally list the simplest form (singular rather than plural; present tense etc.) unless other form is a longer list.
  e.g. I list holey/holy/wholly rather than hole/whole.
• Proper nouns and associated adjectives are not allowed, notably a lot of nations, nationalities, and place names are pronounced the same as common nouns. 
  • Capitol, capital
  • Crewe, crew
  • Czech, check/cheque
  • Chile, chilly/chilli
  • Dane, deign
  • Greece, grease
  • Hungary, hungry
  • Lapp, lap
  • Nice, niece
  • Pole, poll
  • Rome, roam
  • Sikh, seek
  • Thai, tie
  • Towcester, toaster
  • Wales, whales
  And many, many more.

Unsure

Alleged homophones that aren't in my dictionary.  As such I am either uncertain of pronunciation, spelling or even existence of the word, so cannot include in the confirmed list. 

Word	Homophone(s)	Comment
wether	weather, whether	I am told this is a type of sheep.
basinet	bassinet	?A musical instrument?
hele	heal,heal	?Song, from the German?
how'll	howl	Not really establisted enough to count
leider	leader	?Song, from the German?
lune	loon	The moon (if so fails as a proper noun)
meer	mere
rayed	raid
sice	syce
sorel	sorrel
velum	vellum
wyrd	weird

---

I would very much like to hear of any other example that I have missed. If you can think of one, please e-mail me.  Many thanks to those who already have done so.

 

This is a list of British-English homophones. See the explanation page for details of the inclusion criteria.

accessary, accessory ad, add ail, ale air, heir aisle, I'll, isle all, awl allowed, aloud alms, arms altar, alter arc, ark aren't, aunt ate, eight auger, augur auk, orc aural, oral away, aweigh awe, oar, or, ore axel, axle aye, eye, I bail, bale bait, bate baize, bays bald, bawled ball, bawl band, banned bard, barred bare, bear bark, barque baron, barren base, bass bay, bey bazaar, bizarre be, bee beach, beech bean, been beat, beet beau, bow beer, bier bel, bell, belle berry, bury berth, birth bight, bite, byte billed, build bitten, bittern blew, blue bloc, block boar, bore board, bored boarder, border bold, bowled boos, booze born, borne bough, bow boy, buoy brae, bray braid, brayed braise, brays, braze brake, break bread, bred brews, bruise bridal, bridle broach, brooch bur, burr but, butt buy, by, bye buyer, byre calendar, calender call, caul canvas, canvass cast, caste caster, castor caught, court caw, core, corps cede, seed ceiling, sealing cell, sell censer, censor, sensor cent, scent, sent cereal, serial cheap, cheep check, cheque choir, quire chord, cord cite, sight, site clack, claque clew, clue climb, clime close, cloze coal, kohl coarse, course coign, coin colonel, kernel complacent, complaisant complement, compliment coo, coup cops, copse council, counsel cousin, cozen creak, creek crews, cruise cue, kyu, queue curb, kerb currant, current cymbol, symbol dam, damn days, daze dear, deer descent, dissent desert, dessert deviser, divisor

dew, due die, dye discreet, discrete doe, doh, dough done, dun douse, dowse draft, draught dual, duel earn, urn eery, eyrie ewe, yew, you faint, feint fah, far fair, fare farther, father fate, fête faun, fawn fay, fey faze, phase feat, feet ferrule, ferule few, phew fie, phi file, phial find, fined fir, fur fizz, phiz flair, flare flaw, floor flea, flee flex, flecks flew, flu, flue floe, flow flour, flower foaled, fold for, fore, four foreword, forward fort, fought forth, fourth foul, fowl franc, frank freeze, frieze friar, fryer furs, furze gait, gate galipot, gallipot gallop, galop gamble, gambol gays, gaze genes, jeans gild, guild gilt, guilt giro, gyro gnaw, nor gneiss, nice gorilla, guerilla grate, great greave, grieve greys, graze grisly, grizzly groan, grown guessed, guest hail, hale hair, hare hall, haul hangar, hanger hart, heart haw, hoar, whore hay, hey heal, heel, he'll hear, here heard, herd he'd, heed heroin, heroine hew, hue hi, high higher, hire him, hymn ho, hoe hoard, horde hoarse, horse holey, holy, wholly hour, our idle, idol in, inn indict, indite it's, its jewel, joule key, quay knave, nave knead, need knew, new knight, night knit, nit knob, nob knock, nock knot, not know, no knows, nose laager, lager lac, lack lade, laid lain, lane lam, lamb laps, lapse larva, lava lase, laze law, lore lay, ley lea, lee

leach, leech lead, led leak, leek lean, lien lessen, lesson levee, levy liar, lyre licence, license licker, liquor lie, lye lieu, loo links, lynx lo, low load, lode loan, lone locks, lox loop, loupe loot, lute made, maid mail, male main, mane maize, maze mall, maul manna, manner mantel, mantle mare, mayor mark, marque marshal, martial marten, martin mask, masque maw, more me, mi mean, mien meat, meet, mete medal, meddle metal, mettle meter, metre might, mite miner, minor, mynah mind, mined missed, mist moat, mote mode, mowed moor, more moose, mousse morning, mourning muscle, mussel naval, navel nay, neigh nigh, nye none, nun od, odd ode, owed oh, owe one, won packed, pact packs, pax pail, pale pain, pane pair, pare, pear palate, palette, pallet pascal, paschal paten, patten, pattern pause, paws, pores, pours pawn, porn pea, pee peace, piece peak, peek, peke, pique peal, peel pearl, purl pedal, peddle peer, pier pi, pie pica, pika place, plaice plain, plane pleas, please plum, plumb pole, poll poof, pouffe practice, practise praise, prays, preys principal, principle profit, prophet quarts, quartz quean, queen rain, reign, rein raise, rays, raze rap, wrap raw, roar read, reed read, red real, reel reek, wreak rest, wrest retch, wretch review, revue rheum, room right, rite, wright, write ring, wring road, rode roe, row role, roll roo, roux, rue rood, rude root, route rose, rows rota, rotor rote, wrote rough, ruff rouse, rows rung, wrung rye, wry saver, savour spade, spayed sale, sail sane, seine satire, satyr sauce, source saw, soar, sore scene, seen scull, skull sea, see seam, seem sear, seer, sere seas, sees, seize sew, so, sow shake, sheikh shear, sheer shoe, shoo sic, sick side, sighed sign, sine sink, synch slay, sleigh sloe, slow sole, soul some, sum son, sun sort, sought spa, spar staid, stayed stair, stare stake, steak stalk, stork stationary, stationery steal, steel stile, style storey, story straight, strait sweet, suite swat, swot tacks, tax tale, tail talk, torque tare, tear taught, taut, tort te, tea, tee team, teem tear, tier teas, tease terce, terse tern, turn there, their, they're threw, through throes, throws throne, thrown thyme, time tic, tick tide, tied tire, tyre to, too, two toad, toed, towed told, tolled tole, toll ton, tun tor, tore tough, tuff troop, troupe tuba, tuber vain, vane, vein vale, veil vial, vile wail, wale, whale wain, wane waist, waste wait, weight waive, wave wall, waul war, wore ware, wear, where warn, worn wart, wort watt, what wax, whacks way, weigh, whey we, wee, whee weak, week we'd, weed weal, we'll, wheel wean, ween weather, whether weaver, weever weir, we're were, whirr wet, whet wheald, wheeled which, witch whig, wig while, wile whine, wine whirl, whorl whirled, world whit, wit white, wight who's, whose woe, whoa wood, would yaw, yore, your, you're yoke, yolk you'lhl, yule

 


Homonyms, Homographs,,and Homophones