Some of my most enjoyable lessons as a student were classroom vocabulary tests of all kinds. And since I had 3 languages in which to practice these drills, it was triple the fun but never quite enough.

I clearly remember “Match the Columns” exercises and “Fill in the blanks,” a cloze-like activity where we would fill in the correct words based on the sentence context. I thought it would be great fun to introduce some vocabulary for opposites, and then practice using these fun activities. Opposites are denoted by putting “x” in between.

inside x outside अंदर (andar) x बाहर (baahar)
hot x cold गरम (garam) x ठंडा (thanda)
short x tall छोटा (chhota) x लंबा (lamba)
in front x behind आगे (aage) x पीछे (peeche)
thick x thin मोटा (mota) x पतला (patla)
simple/easy x hard/difficult सरल (saral) x कठिण (kathiN)
below x above नीचे (neeche) x ऊपर (oopar)
respect x insult आदर (aadar) x अपमान (apmaan)
clever x foolish चतुर (chatur) x मूर्ख (moorkh)
deep x shallow गहरा (gehra) x   (uthala)
dry x wet सूखा (sookha) x घीला (gheela)
dirty x clean गंदा (ganda) x साफ़ (saaf)

Now complete the following sentences by filling in the blanks.

1. मेरे घर (ghar) के __________ पेड़ (ped) है।
   There is a tree ____ my house.
2. क्या पीओगे? ________ चाय या ________ लस्सी?
   What will you drink? ___ tea or ___ lassi?
3. ________ जैकेट (jacket) पहनो। _______ जैकेट में ठंड लगेगी।
   Wear the ___ jacket. You will feel cold in the ____ jacket.
4. अरे बापरे! कालीन (kaaleen) के ________ बहुत धूल (dhool) है।
   Oh dear! There is a lot of dust ___ this carpet.
5. परीक्षा ________ थी। मुझे पूरे (poore)अंक (unk) मिलेंगे!
   [The exam was ___ . I will get full points.]

With the help of the vocabulary provided above, find and match the words from List 1 with their antonyms or opposites in List 2.

List 1:      गहरा     घीला     चतुर     कठिण     पतला     साफ़

List 2:     सरल     मोटा     गंदा      सूखा[       मूर्ख       उथला

Do post your answers in the comments below!