After a class of ninth graders discovered the helpfulness of the thesaurus in such synonym activities as Synonym Tic-Tac-Toe and Cross-Synonym Puzzles, they started using the thesaurus to locate "the exactly right word" while drafting compositions. They also enriched their oral vocabularies during these activities by discussing synonyms from the thesaurus and using them in context. Synonym wordplay turned the thesaurus into a popular and effective reference book for vocabulary development. (Contains 4 figures.)