I said “multiple” in front of my 4 year old and he asked what it meant. I explained, “it can mean many, several, a lot, bunches” etc.
After explaining to him the meaning I realized— why do we have different words that practically mean the same thing?
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Their meanings are similar, but not the same. They might have different nuances, different use cases, different connotations, etc. You also have to keep in mind how they fit together with other words and how they fit into sentences. You can eat a lot, but you can’t eat multiple. You might go to several different places, but it sounds weird if you go to bunches different places.
Plus I think people sometimes use a word simply because they like the way it sounds. We don’t all have the same idea of what sounds good, though, so synonyms are kept alive by people using the ones they like best.
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