Words Matter!

What are the most common feelings you have and what words can you use to describe them?

Feelings and emotions are a BIG part of life and we use lots of different words to describe them. The more words you know for expressing your emotions, the better you will be able to share with others what you are feeling.

Synonym Challenge

You already know common words for feelings like happy, sad, and angry, but did you know there are lots of other words for these same emotions? Different words with the same meaning are called synonyms. For example, the words quick, fast, and swift are synonyms, just like the words happy, joyful, and glad are synonyms. They are all different words with the same meaning. Here are some more examples:

• Listen and hear
• Garbage and trash
• Center and middle
• Big and large
• Rock and stone

Now that you know what synonyms are, take the synonym challenge and see if you can match words that have the same meaning. List A below contains 10 words for common feelings and emotions. First, see how many synonyms you can come up with for each word in the list. Second, see if you can match the words in List A with their synonyms in List B.

Antonym Challenge

Now that you've matched synonyms, let's explore antonyms. Words with opposite meanings are called antonyms. For example, the words top and bottom are antonyms, just as the words happy and sad are antonyms. Here are some more examples:

• Add and subtract
• Above and below
• Sweet and sour
• Start and stop
• Rough and smooth

Can you think of antonyms for the words in List A? Try filling in the blanks below! If you get stuck, you can peek at some potential answers below, but try it first without looking!

• The opposite of happy is ___.
• The opposite of sad is ___.
• The opposite of angry is ___.
• The opposite of disappointed is ___.
• The opposite of excited is ___.
• The opposite of bored is ___.
• The opposite of tired is ___.
• The opposite of confident is ___.
• The opposite of scared is ___.
• The opposite of surprised is ___.

Keep in mind that there can be more than one antonym or synonym for a word. Here are some potential answers for the antonym challenge above:

• sad, unhappy
• happy, joyful
• happy, calm
• satisfied, pleased, excited
• calm, unenthusiastic
• excited, interested
• active, energized
• unsure, shy, quiet
• confident, unafraid
• aware, expectant

This activity was created by Lisamaria Martinez for Great Expectations.