AN EXPERIMENT WAS DESIGNED TO TEST THE HYPOTHESIS THAT, WITH MATERIAL OF HIGH MEANINGFULNESS, THE SEMANTIC DIMENSION OF SYNONYMITY (BATTLE-FIGHT) WILL HAVE GREATER IMPACT ON THE LEARNING PROCESS THAN THE DIMENSION OF FORMAL SIMILARITY (BATTLE-BOTTLE). THE LEARNING MATERIALS CONSISTED OF FOUR LISTS OF 12 PAIRS OF TWO-SYLLABLE WORDS. THEY WERE PRESENTED TO 120 SUBJECTS FROM INTRODUCTORY PSYCHOLOGY COURSES WHO WERE UNFAMILIAR WITH PAIRED-ASSOCIATE VERBAL LEARNING, AND THE EFFORT OF THE PAIR RELATIONSHIPS ON LEARNING WAS ANALYZED. THE MOST IMPORTANT FINDING WAS THE CONSISTENT FACILITATING EFFECT OF THE FORMAL RELATIONSHIP FOR BOTH FAMILIAR AND UNFAMILIAR MATERIALS. WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THE CLASSROOM, THE FINDINGS INDICATED THAT CERTAIN LEARNING MATERIALS MIGHT BE LEARNED MORE EASILY IF A FORMAL RATHER THAN A MEANINGFUL RELATIONSHIP IS UTILIZED. (GD)