Sentences:  Every boy has his period of wanting to be a ____.
Treasure Island is one of the best ____ stories ever written. 
The ____ lurks in dark passageways and steals upon his victim.  The fierce
followers of Achilles were called ____.  The men sent out by the army as
____ seemed to the people of the countryside more like ____.  The fearless
____ had soon gathered about him a band of ____.  Robin Hood was no ____ of
poor folk.  The outcast became a ____ among the mountaineers of northern
Italy.  Every, boy likes to read of the bold ____ who sailed the Spanish
Main.  Union plans were often upset by daring Confederate ____, such as
Stuart, Morgan, and Forrest.

Run, scamper, scurry, scuttle, scud, scour, pace, gallop, trot, lope, sprint, sweep.

Sentences:  Swift horsemen ____ the country in search of the
fugitive.  Wherever they came, the inhabitants ____ for shelter.  “The dish
____ away with the spoon.”  For his horse to ____ made difficult riding, to
____ made comfortable riding, to ____ made exhilarating riding.  “He may
____ that readeth it.”  The old sailing-boat ____ before the wind.  “Haste
me to know’t, that I, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of
love, May ____ to my revenge.”  The rats ____ across the floor.  “He who
fights and ____ away May live to fight another day.”

Say, utter, pronounce, announce, state, declare, affirm, aver, asseverate, allege, assert, avouch, avow, maintain, claim, depose, predicate, swear, suggest, insinuate, testify. (With this group compare the Speak and Talk groups, below.)

Sentences:  It was something I merely ____ in passing; I would not
____ to it.  I could not ____ in court, and therefore had to ____ before a
notary.  The scientist ____ that a seismograph will infallibly record
earthquakes.  He solemnly ____ that he would not ____ exemption from the
draft.

Shine, beam, gleam, glisten, glister, glitter, glare, flare, flash, sparkle, twinkle, dazzle, glimmer, glow, radiate, scintillate, coruscate.

Sentences:  The gorgeous parade ____ the boy. “____, ____, little
star.”  He was witty that night; he fairly ____ At this compliment the old
lady ____.  “Now fades the ____ landscape on the sight.”  A rocket ____ in
the darkness.  She ____ her elderly wooer a look of defiance; then her eyes
softened and ____ with amusement.  “All that ____ is not gold.”  “How far
that little candle throws his beams!  So ____ a good deed in a naughty
world.”.  The old man ____ into sudden anger.

Slander, defame, asperse, calumniate, traduce, vilify, malign, libel, backbite.

Sentences:  A newspaper must be careful not to ____ any one.  Too
many supposedly religious people ____ their fellow believers.  I do not
____ your motives.  He ____ the character of everybody who chances to
possess one.

Smell, odor, savor, scent, fragrance, aroma, perfume, redolence, tang, stench.