✅ Tidy means to make something neat, organized, or orderly (Tidy your room before dinner).

✅ Spruce means to make something look neat and elegant, and is often followed by the word up (I spruced up my kitchen with a new coat of paint).

✅ Both tidy and spruce generally suggest making something look better than it did before.

✅ Tidy suggests organizing things, and putting away clutter. Spruce can include organizing, but also suggests cleaning or redecorating (We have to tidy the house before we can leave on vacation; I think it’s time we spruced up the garage).

Spruce up your vocabulary with these synonyms and then learn more about tree names like spruce!

✅ Renovate means to restore something to good condition, or to make it like new. Renovate is often used to refer to large projects, such as houses (We decided to renovate the house before moving in).

✅ Refurbish means to make something look better, to brighten it up or redecorate it. Refurbish is often used to refer to smaller projects, like rooms or furniture (I refurbished the kitchen cabinets).

✅ Refurbish generally suggests making something look like it was when it was new or restoring it to its original condition (I took the armchair to someone who could refurbish it properly), rather than renovate, which can suggest modernizing something or undertaking a lot of work that makes it look very different (The entire coffee shop was renovated and now looks wonderful and inviting).

Try writing about a space in your house that needs refurbishing with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Substitution refers to the act of substituting or swapping, or to the thing that is put in place of something else (We made a substitution for chicken instead of beef in today's lunch).

✅ Replacement refers to the act of replacing or putting something in the place of something else, or to the thing that replaces something else (Janice is Sandra’s replacement).

✅ Substitution suggests a temporary situation in which one thing is swapped out for another (The restaurant allows substitutions), while replacement suggests a permanent swapping out of one thing for another, especially another item of the same type (His toy broke so I bought him a replacement).

Make some replacements in your vocabulary with the help of these synonyms!