18 Common Words & What You Can Use Instead. Elevate your English by replacing overused everyday words with smarter, more vivid alternatives. Free Classroom Poster
18 Common Words & What You Can Use Instead
18 Common Words & What You Can Use Instead
English learners often rely on the same simple words, such as “good,” “bad,” or “nice,” because they’re easy and familiar. But overusing these common words weakens both speaking and writing. That’s where this free ESL classroom poster comes in—it showcases 18 everyday words that are commonly overused, and offers stronger, more expressive alternatives to upgrade your students’ vocabulary instantly.
Why This Poster Is So Useful:
- Helps students avoid repetition and sound more fluent
- Teaches how word choice affects tone and clarity
- Encourages creative expression in writing and conversation
What’s Included on the Poster:
- 18 overused words like: good, bad, nice, big, small, easy, hard, like, want
- 3–5 higher-level alternatives per word, appropriate for different contexts
- Example sentences to see the new words in action
Sample Vocabulary Upgrades:
- Good → excellent, wonderful, outstanding, effective, impressive
Example: That was a good idea → That was an effective solution. - Bad → terrible, harmful, poor, dreadful, negative
Example: It’s a bad result → It’s a poor outcome. - Big → massive, enormous, substantial, vast
Example: A big mistake → A substantial mistake. - Small → tiny, minor, limited, slight
Example: A small change → A slight change. - Easy → simple, straightforward, effortless, manageable
Example: It’s easy to fix → It’s a straightforward fix.
Classroom Activities to Reinforce Learning:
- Word Upgrade Challenge: Ask students to rewrite a basic paragraph using better alternatives from the poster.
- Context Match Game: Match upgraded words to scenarios where they best fit (e.g., academic, casual, persuasive).
- Synonym Debate: Students must choose the most fitting synonym for a given sentence and explain why.
- “Before & After” Writing: Have students write one version of a story with basic words and a second with advanced word choices.
Teaching Tip:
Encourage students to build a personal vocabulary notebook where they replace their most commonly used words with 2–3 new ones from this poster each week. This promotes long-term vocabulary retention and more confident use.ster as a starting point for building thematic vocabulary walls: academic nouns, business nouns, or storytelling nouns.
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📩 Want more free ESL grammar lesson? Share this post with other teachers and let us know how it worked in your classroom!
💬 What other grammar topics would you like? Drop your ideas in the comments!
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