Synonym Finder
Type a word and see its synonyms and near-synonyms sorted into nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, each with a one-line definition so you can check the sense before you swap it in. Click any result to look that word up in turn. Free, no sign-up.
Results appear as you type. Click any result to look up its synonyms in turn.
Type a word to see its synonyms and words with a similar meaning, grouped by part of speech.
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Word data from the Datamuse API
How to Use the Synonym Finder
- Type a word or a short phrase. Results appear as you type — significant, show, or make sure all work, and British spellings such as analyse are recognized.
- Check the meaning card. The box above the results gives the main definition of the word you searched, so you can confirm Datamuse read it the way you meant.
- Filter by part of speech. Pick Verbs, Nouns, Adjectives, or Adverbs to keep only replacements that fit the slot in your sentence.
- Read the definition, then click or copy. Click a result to see its own synonyms, or copy it straight into your draft.
Reading the Results
Each result is one of two kinds. Words marked synonym belong to the same WordNet synset as your word — the same sense, listed together by lexicographers. Unmarked words come from Datamuse's "means like" search, which also draws on dozens of online dictionaries and a paraphrase database, so they share a related meaning rather than an identical one. The groups follow each word's part of speech in the sense that matched, and the definitions come from Wiktionary and WordNet.
Search significant and the adjectives come first — meaningful, important, substantial, momentous, noteworthy, all marked as synonyms — followed by a few nouns such as significance and importance and adverbs such as importantly and considerably. Search show and the verbs include demonstrate, indicate, prove, reveal, and read: read is there because a gauge can read or show 20 degrees, a sense you will rarely want in an essay. A synonym is only a synonym of one sense, which is why every result carries a definition.
Choosing the Right Synonym in Academic Writing
A thesaurus offers candidates, not answers. Before a replacement goes into your paper, test it on three things.
- Connotation — what the word implies. Show, demonstrate, indicate, and suggest overlap, but they make claims of different strength. Demonstrate says your evidence settles the question; suggest says it points one way. Pick the verb your data supports.
- Register — how formal it sounds. Find out becomes determine and look into becomes investigate in formal prose. Going further does not help: utilize for use adds syllables, not meaning, and readers notice.
- Collocation — which words it keeps company with. English pairs words by habit: researchers do or conduct research but never make it, and they draw conclusions and pose questions. If a pairing sounds odd, it probably is — the Describing Words Finder shows which adjectives a noun usually takes.
| Instead of | Consider | Check before you swap |
|---|---|---|
| show | demonstrate, indicate, reveal, suggest | How strong a claim the evidence supports |
| important | significant, substantial, central | In a quantitative paper, significant reads as statistically significant |
| think | argue, contend, maintain, propose | Whether the source argued the point or merely mentioned it |
| use | employ, apply, adopt | Whether the longer word adds anything at all |
| big | large, considerable, extensive | Whether a number would be more precise than any adjective |
Synonyms are also the usual cure for a word you have leaned on too often. Run a draft through the Word Repetition Checker to find the repeats, then come back here for alternatives — but keep technical terms consistent. If you define working memory in your introduction, do not call it short-term storage in the discussion; readers will assume you mean something different.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between a synonym and a word with a similar meaning?
- A synonym can replace your word in at least one sense without changing the meaning — glad for happy. A word with a similar meaning is related but not interchangeable — bliss is a noun, and a pleasant person is agreeable to others, not necessarily happy. The finder marks WordNet synonyms and lists related words after them, so you can tell which is which.
- Why are some synonyms strange or wrong for my sentence?
- Most words have several senses, and each sense has its own synonyms. Read appears for show because a dial can read or show a value; usher appears because to show someone in is to usher them in. Read the definition next to each result and keep only those that match the sense in your sentence.
- Can I avoid plagiarism by replacing words with synonyms?
- No. Swapping words one for one while keeping a source's sentence structure and ideas is still plagiarism — often called patchwriting — and a paraphrase needs a citation even when every word is your own. Restate the idea in your own structure, then cite it; Paraphrasing vs. Quoting: When to Use Each explains when to do which.
- Where do the synonyms and definitions come from?
- From the free Datamuse API. Synonyms are WordNet synsets; similar words also draw on dozens of online dictionaries indexed by OneLook and on the Paraphrase Database; definitions come from Wiktionary and WordNet; and parts of speech are estimated from Google Books Ngrams. The tool shows up to 60 synonyms and 100 related words, in Datamuse's order of relevance.
- Does it work for phrases and British spellings?
- Yes. Phrases such as make sure return ensure, see to it, and make certain, and British spellings such as colour and analyse work as well as American ones. Inflected forms are looked up as typed, so if running gives thin results, try run.
- Is my search sent anywhere?
- The word you type goes to CitationEasy's server, which fetches the results from the Datamuse API at api.datamuse.com, so Datamuse sees the word but not your IP address. CitationEasy keeps no record of who searched for what: answers are cached by word for up to a week, so a word anyone has looked up recently is answered without asking Datamuse again. Datamuse says it keeps a temporary log of queries and discards it at the end of the day. Results you have already seen are also cached in your browser tab, so looking a word up again does not send another request.