✅ Lug means to carry something, especially something heavy that requires a combination of lifting and dragging (I lugged the laundry basket downstairs).

✅ Tote means to carry something, especially on your back or in your arms (I didn’t want to have to tote my textbooks around all day).

✅ Lug and tote both suggest carrying something that is a bit awkward or difficult to manage.

✅ Lug suggests that the thing being carried is especially heavy and requires great effort to move, whereas tote emphasizes that you carry the item on your person.

✅ Dissonance refers to a harsh combination of sounds that don’t harmonize (I hated the dissonance of hearing so many instruments all together).

✅ Discord refers to a confused mishmash of sounds (The discord in the cafe was overwhelming).

✅ Dissonance and discord both refer to harsh and inharmonious sounds and combinations of sounds, but discord can also refer to disagreement, and dissonance can refer to incongruity between ideas.

✅ Both of these other meanings reflect the relationships between noises and sounds that discord and dissonance refer to (discord between friends; narrative dissonance).

✅ Shine means to be particularly good at something or stand out when compared to your peers (He shined from the moment he stepped on stage).

✅ Excel means to do extremely well at something or be superior in comparison with others (She excelled in mathematics).

✅ While shine and excel both mean to do something well in comparison to others, excel is a slightly more formal or official-sounding term than shine.