UP Police Constable · Bite-size lessons

Paryayvachi (पर्यायवाची)

About 6 min · General Hindi (सामान्य हिंदी) · English

Time worked out from the lesson's 439 words at 150 words a minute, plus a minute for each question.

Paryayvachi (synonyms) refers to words that have similar or identical meanings in Hindi. This topic is part of the UP Police Constable exam, appearing in both direct questions ("Which is a synonym of X?") and sentence completion exercises. Mastery of paryayvachi not only helps in the General Hindi section but also improves vocabulary comprehension across passages and idioms.

Key ideas

• Paryayvachi definition: Words with identical or very similar meanings that can often substitute for each other in sentences without changing the core sense.
• Contextual equivalence: True synonyms are interchangeable in most contexts, though some may carry slightly different connotations or formality levels (e.g., जल and पानी both mean water but जल is more formal).
• Sanskrit origins: Many Hindi synonyms derive from Sanskrit (tatsam words) and coexist with colloquial variants (tadbhav), creating rich synonym sets.
• Exam pattern: Questions present a word in bold or underlined, asking for its paryayvachi from options; sometimes a sentence requires filling in the most appropriate synonym.
• Elimination strategy: When unsure, eliminate options that are antonyms or unrelated words first; narrow down between close synonyms by considering the sentence context if provided.

Watch out for

• Confusing similar-sounding words: Students often confuse शशि (moon) with सशि or रवि (sun) with राधि. Always check the meaning before selecting; शशि = moon, रवि = sun. Memorise the entire cluster together.
• Mixing related but distinct words: पुत्र (son) and पुत्री (daughter) are not synonyms of each other; they're gender variants. Similarly, हाथी (elephant) and घोड़ा (horse) both are animals but not synonyms. Read questions carefully — "synonym of X" requires exact meaning overlap.
• Selecting formal/informal variants incorrectly: While जल and पानी are synonyms, some questions specifically test knowledge of Sanskrit-origin words. If the question asks for a literary synonym of पानी, choose नीर or सलिल over the colloquial पानी itself.

Quick reference

• Synonym strategy: Memorise 15–20 high-frequency noun clusters (sun, moon, earth, water, tree, flower, body parts).
• Nature words dominate: Words for natural elements (sun, moon, water, air, tree, flower) have the most synonyms.
• Body parts & relations: आँख (नेत्र, नयन), मुख (आनन, वदन), पिता (जनक, तात), माता (जननी, अंबा, माँ) — learn these small lists.
• Tatsam preference: When in doubt between a Sanskrit-derived and common word, consider the tatsam option in formal questions.
• Practice antonym elimination: If you see an option that is clearly an antonym (e.g., दिन instead of रात for रात्रि), eliminate it immediately.

Check yourself: 3 questions

This lesson is cut from the topic's note, not rewritten. Fact-checked on 18 Oct 2026: an AI-assisted check of this note against cited sources; the errors it found were corrected that day. Some errors may remain. The questions are from Shishya's validated question bank.

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