It is inevitable for students learn Chinese in China to meet some similar words hard to tell apart for the reason of the similar appearance and meaning. For these words, learners had better learn them step by step and one by one. Several groups will be illustrated in the following parts.
The first group students often see when they learn Mandarin Chinese is “饱和”, “饱满” and “丰满”, all of them are functioned as adjective. This group of words is relatively simple to tell apart because of the different using environments. Let’s analyze them respectively with examples.
“饱和” is to express the solute is can’t be dissolved any more, indicating things or objects reach the highest limits. So we say “自行车市场达到饱和”. “饱满” means the full fruit, indicating the adequate energy. For examples, “粮食颗粒饱满” and “运动员精神饱满”. Students study in China must be familiar with “丰满”, meaning fullness. We often use it to describe the shape and figure like “身材丰满”.
Another group will be explained is “抱负” and “报复”, which similar in pronunciation with totally different meanings. For students who study Chinese, if they want to differentiate them, they should pay more attention to the appearance accordingly.
“抱负” is a noun carries the meaning of great ambitions, for example, “有远大抱负”. However, as a noun, “报复” means the action to revenge, we say “残忍的报复”. It can also used as a verb, which with the same meaning with “revenge”. We often say “采取报复行动”. For this kind of words, students can learn Chinese online free.
After learning the word “报复”, students study Mandarin Chinese should know “报仇”, which have the similar meaning with “报复”. We have just learned the meanings of “报复”, so let’s move on to “报仇”. It is a phrase means to take actions to hit the enemies, which is more serious than “报复”. And it can’t followed by objects. We can’t say “报仇父母” but to say “为父母报仇”.
The following group of similar words is “悲伤”, “悲愤”,“悲痛” and “悲惨”, which seems more complicated than the previous ones. All of them indicate some kind of “sadness” in certain degree. We will explain more specifically as a help to learn Mandarin.
“悲愤” carries the meaning of both grievous and indignant. Both feelings appear at the same time. We say “他感到很悲愤”. “悲伤” is simply sad which is the antonym of “happy”. For example, “令人悲伤地消息”. “悲痛” is used to express the extreme grief, which has more serious meaning than “悲伤” but has no meaning of “anger”. For instance, “亲人的离去使他感到无比悲痛”. However, students learn Chinese should know the word “悲惨” is to describe what somebody experienced was very miserable. We often use it to express people’s life is misfortune and miserable like “悲惨的结局” and “悲惨的故事”. Here is a complete sentence “听着他悲惨的遭遇，大家都忍不住流下眼泪。”
Last but not least, a group of words often taught in Chinese learning programs is “奔驰”, “奔跑” and “奔腾”, all of which have the meaning of “run fast”. For further tiny differences, we will discuss in the following part.
Generally speaking, “奔驰” is to describe the cars or horses run very fast but not for people. We say “骏马奔驰在草原上” and “汽车在高速公路上奔驰”. On the contrary, “奔跑” often use to describe people, but sometimes can be used for animals. The speed is not so fast as “奔驰”. For instance, “孩子们奔跑过来”. “奔腾” is to describe many horses are running and jumping, indicating the turbulent water. We often say “洪水奔腾而来”. Actually, if you attend to one-on-one Chinese learning programs, teachers will explain it in detail like this.
Such kind of similar words is often seen in our daily life. The best way to learn and remember is to make connection with other words when you meet one, thus learning by comparing.