Best Synonym Tools for Writers: How to Find the Perfect Word for Any Project

From Edie: Discover the best synonym tools for writers. Explore thesaurus and vocabulary resources to find the perfect word and strengthen your writing voice.

Best Synonym Tools for Writers: How to Find the Perfect Word for Any Project

by Julie Lavender @JLavenderWrites

While working on a series of educational titles with my husband recently, I noticed we found ourselves looking for words that were alike. Words that were equal, equivalent, matching – the same. In other words, … we hunted SYNONYMS.

With just a tad of tongue-in-cheek humor there, we found some favorite resources to aid us with our project … undertaking … assignment … work … task … goal … labor … mission … job … objective … 

Okay, okay … you get it! I’ll stop now.

But seriously, I thought you might find some of these resources helpful with your writing as well. 

For our educational projects, we’re assigned a particular reading level. We often think of a word that’s perfect for the book, but yet it’s not a word a child might be familiar with in that target age group. That’s when we need a great synonym that meets our guidelines.

Children’s Writers Word Book, published by Writers Digest Books and written by authors Alijandra Mogilner and Tayopa Mogilner Word Book starts with a list of words children learn to read in each grade level, kindergarten through sixth grade. 

The next and largest section of the book is a thesaurus. Entries are in alphabetical order and include the grade level the word is introduced. Then, a list of synonyms follows, with grade level introduction included as well. 

So, for an example—say my husband and I wanted to use the word “compassion” in our document. But the instructions for our piece were to write for a second grade reading level. When we look up “compassion” in the Word Book, here’s what we see: 

compassion (5th): care (K), pity (4th), sympathy (4th), tenderness (3rd), understanding (1st)

Obviously to stay on the target reading level, we’ll need to use the word “understanding.” 

And, the back of the book contains an alphabetical list of all of the included words with the grade level the word is introduced in parentheses. 

Children’s Writers Word Book is an awesome resource if you’re writing for children. 

Here are other sites and resources we’ve found helpful for writers when the word you’ve thought of just isn’t exactly right … accurate … correct … exact … precise … true… good … okay, you get the picture! 

• thesaurus.com: gives the opportunity to click on the word for a definition and pronunciation, gives strongest matches, strong matches, weak matches and an option to find an antonym as well as synonym

• merriam-webster.com/thesaurus: defines the word you type in, allows you to hear a verbal pronunciation of the word, lists synonym and similar words, and antonyms and near antonyms

• wordhippo.com: allows you to type in a word and includes tabs that give parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, definitions, rhymes, and sentences for the word 

Now it’s your turn to join the conversation … discussion .. chat … gabfest … talk …dialog … discourse … What’s your favorite synonym tool to use? 

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Best Synonym Tools for Writers: How to Find the Perfect Word for Any Project from @JLavenderWrites on @EdieMelson  (Click to Tweet)

Julie Lavender loves being a writer, author, scribe, journalist, columnist, contributor, and synonym-seeker. She’s the author of thirty-eight books, and she and her husband are completing two educational, six-book series in the next couple of months that will round her total to fifty books by the end of the year. Her newest book, Children’s Advent Stories for Bedtime, published by Penguin Random House, releases this month.