Glance or glimpse? Muggy or close? Beg or demand? Forty groups of English words that look interchangeable — and the small differences that decide which one you actually want. Every group has an animation that acts out the difference. Click any word to play it.
How to use this
Find the axis first. Words in a group almost never differ randomly — they differ along one or two dimensions. The coloured box names the axis; the badges under each animation give that word's position on it.
Watch, then read. Click through the words and see what changes before reading the table. The picture is doing the definition's job.
Do the exercise before opening the answers. Being wrong and then seeing why is worth ten times reading the table calmly.
Real synonyms overlap. Occasionally a second word would also pass; choose the most natural. Where a runner-up is defensible, the answer says so and explains why.