Free vocabulary practice
Word choice exercises
Find the word that fits the evidence, purpose, or degree of certainty in a sentence.
A useful advanced word makes a distinction you need. These questions ask you to read the situation, then choose the word that expresses it most accurately.
Look for the clue that settles the choice: supporting evidence, a temporary arrangement, a limit, or a change in severity. Each answer includes an explanation. All scenarios and sentences are original teaching examples.
Question 1 of 8
Meaning in contextRead all 8 questions and explanations
1. Choose the verb that describes what the receipts add to her account.
Her account already seemed plausible. Two independently verified receipts matched her timeline and helped to ___ it.
Choices: refute · corroborate · distort · anticipate
Best fit: corroborate
Corroborate means to strengthen an account with supporting evidence. The matching receipts support what she said. Refute points toward disproving it; distort would misrepresent it; anticipate concerns expecting something beforehand. Corroboration can strengthen a case without settling every question about it.
2. Which adjective fits an arrangement that is being used for now?
The committee approved a ___ timetable. It would serve during the pilot, then be revised in light of the results.
Choices: peripheral · retrospective · provisional · irrevocable
Best fit: provisional
Provisional describes something adopted for the time being. The planned revision is the decisive clue. Peripheral concerns what is secondary or at the edge; retrospective looks back; irrevocable would suggest that the decision cannot be withdrawn, which conflicts with the arrangement described.
3. Which word identifies the stated or apparent purpose, while leaving room for doubt?
The invitation said the meeting was about the budget. Its ___ purpose was financial planning, although several attendees suspected that replacing the director was the real subject.
Choices: ostensible · definitive · incidental · intractable
Best fit: ostensible
Ostensible distinguishes the purpose presented to others from a possible underlying purpose. The attendees' suspicion makes that distinction relevant. The word does not itself prove deception. Definitive suggests a settled determination; incidental makes the purpose secondary; intractable describes something difficult to manage or resolve.
4. Choose the verb that expresses a restriction on the survey's scope.
The permit ___ the scope of the survey to the northern field. Sampling anywhere else was outside its terms.
Choices: precipitated · exacerbated · corroborated · circumscribed
Best fit: circumscribed
Circumscribe is the limiting word here: the permit sets a boundary around what the survey may cover. Precipitate would suggest bringing something about, exacerbate making a problem worse, and corroborate adding support. None of those expresses the stated restriction.
5. Which verb means reducing the severity of the consequences?
The barrier could not prevent all flooding, but it reduced the damage. Its purpose was to ___ the consequences.
Choices: mitigate · disseminate · conflate · exacerbate
Best fit: mitigate
Mitigate fits a reduction in harm. The barrier helps without removing the problem altogether. Disseminate concerns spreading information or material, conflate combines things that should be distinguished, and exacerbate would make the damage worse.
6. Which adjective fits findings that do not point clearly in one direction?
Three relevant trials of the same intervention disagreed: one suggested benefit, another found no change, and the third suggested harm. Taken together, the findings remained ___.
Choices: redundant · irrelevant · definitive · equivocal
Best fit: equivocal
Equivocal describes the lack of a clear conclusion in this context. The findings matter, but they conflict. Redundant would mean unnecessary repetition, irrelevant would deny their bearing on the question, and definitive would claim more certainty than the results support. Equivocal can also describe language open to different interpretations; it does not always accuse a speaker of evasion.
7. Which verb describes circulating the approved guidance?
Once the safety guidance was approved, the organization ___ it across the region so that every clinic received a copy.
Choices: obscured · disseminated · rescinded · restricted
Best fit: disseminated
Disseminated describes spreading the guidance to its intended recipients. Receiving a copy is the contextual clue. Obscured would make it harder to understand or see; rescinded would withdraw it; restricted would limit it. Those actions do not express the circulation described.
8. Which verb makes clear that consideration was ruled out?
In this application process, late submissions could not be reviewed. Missing the deadline therefore ___ consideration of her application.
Choices: facilitated · corroborated · precluded · presupposed
Best fit: precluded
Precluded says that the missed deadline prevented consideration under this process. It is stronger than saying that review became inconvenient. Facilitated would make review easier, corroborated would support an account, and presupposed would treat something as an assumption. The scenario describes a complete barrier to review.