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Francora · TEF & TCF Canada · Vocabulaire

Synonymes, antonymes et registre

A dictionary gives four French words for one English word and no way to choose. Register, collocation and intensity are what decide. These seven units train the choice.

140 questions 4 domains · 7 units MCQ · Fill-in · Jumbled · Transform · Correct CLB 7 → CLB 8

francora · vocabulaire ← Vocabulary hub

Choisir entre des mots proches

A bilingual dictionary gives four French words for one English word and no way to choose between them.
That choice is what separates a CLB 6 answer from a CLB 8 one.
Three things decide it: the register the situation calls for, the collocation the noun demands, and the strength the context has already set.

1. Register — the same idea at three heights

Almost every everyday word sits on a ladder. Students learn the bottom rung from films and conversation, then use it in a formal letter, where it reads as careless.

Familier — avoid in writing	Standard — the exam default	Soutenu — for formal writing
bosser	travailler	exercer une activité
le fric, le blé	l’argent	les ressources financières
une bagnole	une voiture	un véhicule
un bouquin	un livre	un ouvrage
un type, un mec	un homme	un individu
un truc	une chose	un élément
une boîte	une entreprise	une société
c’est embêtant	c’est gênant	c’est fâcheux
ça marche	ça fonctionne	le dispositif est opérationnel
y a un problème	il y a un problème	une difficulté se pose

The safe default is the middle column. Standard French is accepted everywhere — in Section A, in Section B, in the written test. Reaching for the third column is only worth it when the task is formal (a letter of complaint, a formal argument) and only when you are certain of the word. A misfired soutenu word costs more than a correct standard one.

2. Collocation — the noun chooses the verb

The commonest weakness in a written answer is not an error.
It is faire, avoir, mettre and dire doing work that a precise verb should be doing.
The precise verb is not a stylistic upgrade; in many cases the vague one is simply wrong with that noun.

faire une erreur → commettre une erreur

The fixed pairing. Faire une erreur is tolerated in speech, flat in writing.

faire une loi → adopter / voter une loi

Faire une loi is not what the institution does.

avoir un problème → rencontrer une difficulté

The verb that goes with obstacles you run into.

mettre en place → instaurer une mesure

One verb instead of three, and more precise.

dire son avis → exprimer / formuler son avis

Dire un avis does not collocate.

donner une réponse → fournir / apporter une réponse

The standard administrative pairing.

3. Near-synonyms that carve the world differently

These are not register variants. They mean different things, and the sentence usually makes only one of them possible.

Family	What separates them
emploi · travail · poste · métier · profession	un emploi is a job you hold; le travail is the activity or the workplace; un poste is the specific position on the org chart; un métier is the trade you trained in; une profession is the category on a form.
erreur · faute	une erreur is a mistake of judgement or calculation; une faute carries blame — spelling, rules, morals. Une faute d’orthographe, une erreur de calcul.
problème · souci · enjeu · difficulté	un enjeu is what is at stake, not a problem at all — the commonest misuse of the four.
salaire · revenu · rémunération	le salaire is what the employer pays; le revenu is everything coming in, including rent and benefits; la rémunération is the formal word covering pay in all its forms.
client · usager · consommateur · bénéficiaire	Chosen by the institution: a shop has des clients, a public service has des usagers, a benefit has des bénéficiaires.

4. Intensity — the rung has to match the context

agacé → contrarié → énervé → furieux

Reaching for furieux over a late bus overstates it and reads as unnatural.

content → satisfait → ravi → enchanté

Enchanté outside an introduction sounds theatrical.

important → considérable → majeur → capital

Each rung is a real step, not a synonym.

surpris → étonné → stupéfait → sidéré

The top two belong to genuinely extreme events.

5. Opposites are built, not just learned

Many antonyms are the same word with a negative prefix, and the prefix changes shape according to the letter that follows it. This is the rule most students never meet.

im- before m, b, p: impossible, immangeable, imbattable. ir- before r: irrégulier, irréel. il- before l: illisible, illégal. in- everywhere else: inutile, incapable, inattendu. The doubled consonant in irr- and ill- is not optional.

Other negative prefixes carry their own flavour:

mal- is clumsiness or bad faith (maladroit, malhonnête)
dé-/dés- undoes an action (défaire, désaccord)
mé- is a failure to do it properly (mécontent, méconnaître)
sous-/sur- mark too little and too much (sous-estimer / surestimer)

Words students treat as synonyms that are not — the short list

savoir takes facts and skills, connaître takes people and places. Je sais conduire / je connais Montréal.

entendre is sound arriving; écouter is you turning towards it. Same for voir and regarder.

visiter takes places, rendre visite à takes people. Visiter un musée, rendre visite à ma tante.

quitter needs an object (quitter la ville), partir does not (je pars demain), laisser means leave something behind.

an and jour count units; année and journée describe the stretch lived through. Trois ans but une bonne journée.

actuellement means currently, not actually. éventuellement means possibly, not eventually. occasion is a chance or a bargain, not a formal occasion in every sense.

How to use the units below

Answer in Practice mode first and read the explanation even when you were right — most items turn on a distinction that will recur.
The explanation always names the tempting wrong word and says what would have to change in the sentence for it to become correct, which is the part worth keeping.

When you meet a word you would not have produced yourself, write it down with its collocation, not alone: not commettre but commettre une erreur. A verb stored without its noun will not come back to you under time pressure.

Exam mode

140 questions · 80 minutes

The timer starts as soon as you press Start and does not pause.
No answers and no explanations are shown until you submit.
At 0:00 the test submits itself with whatever you have entered.
Written answers are graded on spelling; accents are tolerated.

Francora · @frenchwithguri Synonymes, antonymes et registre