Synonyms are words that have a similar meaning, whereas antonyms are words with opposite meanings.
For example, icy and frozen are synonyms; frozen and boiling are antonyms.
Matching synonyms and antonyms need to be of the same word class, so an adjective needs to be matched with an adjective as its synonym/antonym; a noun needs to be matched with a noun, and so on.
Most 11+ exams will test a child’s knowledge of synonyms and antonyms in some way, whether that’s through a verbal reasoning paper or an English paper.
In the GL exam, there are several synonym and antonym questions featured in the verbal reasoning portion of the exam.
In other 11+ exams, synonyms and antonyms might be tested in the English paper, often by asking children to identify a synonym of one of the words featured in the comprehension passage.
For example, this question from the St. Olave’s exam asks children to identify a synonym of “grave”.
Future Stories, an exam publisher that is taking over from CEM in some parts of the country, also looks set to feature a large number of synonym and antonym questions in its exams, particularly in the English paper. An example from the Reading grammar school 11+ sample paper is below.
Similarly, the CSSE exam usually features a fairly lengthy question on synonyms:
For more information on the CSSE exam and the materials we recommend, download our free 20-page guide here: https://link.wordier.online/csse-exam-explained.
