Playing with words

Vocabulary Exercise

Synonyms are words with identical meanings. For example, Baby - Infant, Buy-Purchase and so on… Use the clues given to complete the grid with synonymous words.

Across

1. Monstrous
5. Listless
8. Annoyed
10. Think

Down
2. Spread
3. Soothe
4. Assess
6. Ancient
7. Amiable
9. Demean


Answers

Across 1.Prodigious 5.Lackadaisical 8.Peeved 10.Ruminate

Down 2.Disseminate 3.Pacify 4.Gauge 6.Archaic 7.Affable 9.Disparage

 

HETERONYMS

Every language has its own set of unique conventions and usage. In English, for example, the same word can be used in different contexts with different pronunciations to convey entirely different meanings. Take the word conduct. Though spelt c-o-n-d-u-c-t, its meaning would change depending on how you pronounce it and its usage. Words that have identical spellings but different meanings and pronunciations are called heteronyms.

Here is a fun game for you using heteronyms. Take a look at the list of words given below. Each of these has been used twice in the same sentence and the different pronunciations are also indicated in parentheses. Using the superscript number against each usage, match the words with the meanings given below. The first one is done for you as an example.

Contest
Resent
Wound
Object
Project
Blessed
Desert

To contest 1 (kuhn-test) the issue they held a contest 2 (kon-test)

I resent 3 (ri-zent) the fact that the letter was lost, but I have resent 4 (ree-sent) it.

The doctor wound 5 (wound) a bandage around the painful wound 6 (woond).

I object 7 (uhb-jekt) to this object 8 (Ob-jekt) being put here

I project 9 (proaJECT) a picture of my project 10 (PROject)

Sharon had a blessed 11 (bles-id) time at her friend’s place; she was blessed 12 (blest) by her hospitality.

Marion was furious with her boyfriend and wished she could desert 13 (di-zurt) him in the desert14 (dez-ert)

Everything I know I learned 15 (lurnd) from my learned 16 (lurn-id) mother

Example:
Fight:  1

Competition:  2

A. leave:  ______________ B. arid region: _______________

C. hate, to feel or show displeasure: __________________ D. to send again: _________________

E. protest: ______________ F. thing: ____________

G. coiled around ___________ H. injury ________________

I. to present something that is devised, or planned; plan _________ J. task _________________

K. brilliant, magnificent, splendid: ______________ L. beatified: _________________

M. knowledgeable: ____________________ N. acquired knowledge or skill: ________________

Answers

A- 13
B- 14
C- 3
D- 4
E- 7
F- 8
G- 5
H- 6
I- 9
J- 10
K- 11
L- 12
M- 16
N- 15

The Five Senses and Beyond…

Fill in the crossword with words relating to our senses and powers of perception, as described by the clues:

Across
3. Tangible, Perceptible to the sense of touch
4. The (usually pleasant) smell that a substance has or gives off
6. A person who enjoys and knows a lot about good food and wines; a connoisseur
9. Keen and quick insight; hunch
10. Of or pertaining to the sense of smell

Down
1. To examine by touching
2. To enjoy the taste or smell or feel of something
5. The act or process of knowing; perception
7. A visual defect in which distant objects appear blurred because their images are focused in front of the retina rather than on it (also used to denote lack of foresight)
8. Of or pertaining to hearing

 

Answers

Across
3. Tactile
4. Aroma
6. Gourmet
9. Intuition
10.Olfactory

Down
1. Palpate
2. Savour
5. Cognition
7. Myopia
8. Aural

 

Honing Your General Vocabulary

Use the clues given to complete the grid:

Across
4. Immature, juvenile
5. Expressing or covering much in few words
7. Spacious
8. To soothe, calm, pacify, relieve
9. To punish severely

Down
1. Stubbornly persistent
2. Inclined to fight
3. Overabundance
6. To combine

 

Answers

Across                                                                          
4. Puerile
5. Succinct
7. Commodious
8. Assuage
9. Castigate

Down
1. Pertinacious
2. Pugnacious
3. Plethora
4. Conflate

 

Being Phobic

Fill in the puzzle below with the prefixes that denote the common phobias mentioned in the clues:

Across
3. Fear of Dreams
5. Fear of Drinking
6. Fear of heights
7. Fear of Fish
8. Fear of Foreigners/Strangers

Down
1. Fear of Fire
2. Fear of Thunder
4. Fear of Cats
6. Fear of Spiders

 

 

Answers

Across
3. Oneiro – phobia
5. Dipso – phobia
6. Acro – phobia
7. Ichthyo – phobia
8. Xeno – phobia

Down
1. Pyro – phobia
2. Tonitro – phobia
4. Ailuro – phobia (also called elurophobia)
6. Arachno – phobia