A crow is as black as coal.
Source: tatoeba (27010)
Coal
/kəʊl/
Synonyms for "coal" (138 found)
Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Closest matches (28)
Strong matches (41)
Related words (69)
Choosing the right synonym
- Closest matches in this entry: alabaster, alcohol, anthracite, ash, ashes.
- Sentence evidence is available for coal, so synonym choice can be checked against real usage rather than a flat word list.
- Ranking signals come from derived_reverse, moby, opengloss, wordnet, and related lexical sources.
Synonym selection checklist
- Match the part of speech before comparing meanings.
- Check whether the synonym changes intensity, formality, or emotional tone.
- Read the replacement inside the full sentence, not just beside "coal".
- Prefer the clearest word over the most unusual word when writing for speed or comprehension.
When not to replace "coal"
Keep "coal" when the sentence already sounds natural, when a synonym would add unintended emphasis, or when readers need the most familiar wording. A synonym should clarify or sharpen the message, not simply make the sentence look more varied.
If two options seem close, choose the one that best matches the audience and purpose of the sentence.
Replacement workflow
1. Preserve meaning
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "coal" intact in the sentence you are editing.
2. Tune tone
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
3. Re-read context
Read the full sentence after the swap. Keep the synonym only when the sentence becomes clearer or more precise.
Review note: Synonym lists are ranked with lexical data and reviewed for practical writing value. Use the comparison notes, sentence evidence, and source labels together; a high-ranking synonym can still be wrong when the audience, register, or grammar changes.
Final fit check
After choosing a replacement for "coal", read the sentence once for meaning and once for rhythm. The best synonym should feel natural in the full sentence, not only accurate in a word list.
If the synonym makes the sentence slower, vaguer, or more dramatic than intended, keep "coal" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
Related word relations
OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.
More general
16 entriesMore specific
5 entriesCollocations
12 entriesanthracite coalbituminous coalcoal ashcoal minecoal seamcoal the boilercoaled the locomotivecoaling the furnacecoals the engineengine coalingfurnace coalingsoft coal
Inflections
3 entriesDerivations
7 entriesTranslations
338 translations across 215 languages.
Abkhaz
1 entries- арацәа noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Adyghe
1 entries- шӏомыкӏы noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Afrikaans
1 entries- steenkool noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Albanian
2 entries- qymyr noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- qymyrgur noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Aleut
1 entries- uuglix̂ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ancient Greek
2 entries- ἄνθραξ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ἄνθραξ noun (countable: carbon rock)
Arabic
4 entries- فحم noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- فحم noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- فَحَم noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- فَحْم noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Aramaic
2 entries- גמורתא noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ܓܡܘܪܬܐ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Armenian
3 entries- ածուխ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ածուխ noun (countable: carbon rock)
- քարածուխ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Aromanian
1 entries- cãrbuni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Asháninka
1 entries- tsimenkito noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Assamese
1 entries- কয়লা noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Asturian
1 entries- carbón noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Azerbaijani
2 entries- daş kömür noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kömür noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Bashkir
1 entries- күмер noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Basque
1 entries- ikatz noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Bavarian German
1 entries- kuin noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Belarusian
3 entries- ву́галь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- вуго́льчык noun (countable: carbon rock)
- ка́менны ву́галь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Bengali
1 entries- কয়লা noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Bikol Central
1 entries- uring noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Breton
1 entries- glaou noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Bulgarian
3 entries- въ́глен noun (countable: carbon rock)
- въ́глища noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ка́менни въ́глища noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Burmese
1 entries- ကျောက်မီးသွေး noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Catalan
2 entries- carbó noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbó noun (countable: carbon rock)
Cebuano
2 entries- karbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- uling noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Central Franconian
1 entries- koll noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Central Kurdish
2 entries- خەڵوزی بەرد noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ڕەژوو noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chakma
1 entries- 𑄃𑄋𑄢𑄳𑄦 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chamicuro
1 entries- kajs̈ho'meki noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chechen
1 entries- кӏора noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Cherokee
1 entries- ᏥᏃᏍᎦ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chichewa
1 entries- malasha noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chinese
4 entries- мый noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- мыйтан noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 煤 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 煤炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chinese Cantonese
2 entries- 煤 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 煤炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chinese Mandarin
4 entries- 煤 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 煤 noun (countable: carbon rock)
- 煤炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 石炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Choctaw
1 entries- tobaksi noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chol
1 entries- abʌc noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Church Slavic
2 entries- ѫгль noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ⱘⰳⰾⱐ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Chuvash
1 entries- кӑмрӑк noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Cornish
1 entries- glow noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Corsican
1 entries- carbone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Cree
1 entries- ᑲᐢᑲᐢᑭᓰᐦᑲᐣ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Czech
1 entries- uhlí noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Dakota
2 entries- chaxdí noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- makhápheta noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Danish
1 entries- kul noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Dutch
3 entries- kool noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kool noun (countable: carbon rock)
- steenkool noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Elfdalian
1 entries- kuol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Erzya
1 entries- седь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Esperanto
2 entries- karbo noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- terkarbo noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Estonian
1 entries- süsi noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Evenki
1 entries- элла noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Faroese
1 entries- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Finnish
2 entries- hiili noun (countable: carbon rock)
- kivihiili noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
French
3 entries- charbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- charbon noun (countable: carbon rock)
- houille noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Friulian
3 entries- cjarbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- cjarvon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- čharvon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Galician
2 entries- carbón noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbón noun (countable: carbon rock)
Georgian
1 entries- ნახშირი noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
German
3 entries- Kohle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- Kohle noun (countable: carbon rock)
- Steinkohle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Gothic
1 entries- 𐌷𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌹 noun (countable: carbon rock)
Greek
3 entries- γαιάνθρακας noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- κάρβουνο noun (countable: carbon rock)
- λιθάνθρακας noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Greenlandic
1 entries- aamarsuit noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Gujarati
1 entries- કોયલો noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hakka Chinese
1 entries- 石炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hausa
1 entries- kwal noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hawaiian
1 entries- lānahu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hebrew
1 entries- פֶּחָם noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hindi
1 entries- कोयला noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Hungarian
2 entries- szén noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- szén noun (countable: carbon rock)
Icelandic
1 entries- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ido
1 entries- karbono noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Igbo
1 entries- obȯto noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ilocano
1 entries- uging noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Inari Sami
1 entries- čiđđâ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Indonesian
2 entries- batu bara noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ingush
1 entries- кӏор noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Inuktitut
1 entries- ᐊᕐᔭᒃᓴᖅ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Iranian Persian
4 entries- اَنْگِشْت noun (countable: carbon rock)
- ذُغال noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ذُغال noun (countable: carbon rock)
- ذُغالسَنْگ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Irish
1 entries- gual noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Isnag
1 entries- uxing noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Isthmus Zapotec
1 entries- buu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Italian
2 entries- carbone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbone noun (countable: carbon rock)
Japanese
4 entries- 煤炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 煤炭 noun (countable: carbon rock)
- 石炭 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 石炭 noun (countable: carbon rock)
Kabardian
1 entries- фӏамыщӏ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Kannada
3 entries- ಇಜ್ಜಿಲು noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ಇದ್ದಲು noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ಕಲ್ಲಿದ್ದಲು noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Karachay-Balkar
1 entries- кёмюр noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Karelian
1 entries- hiili noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Kazakh
1 entries- көмір noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Khakas
1 entries- кӧмір noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Khmer
1 entries- ធ្យូង noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Konkani
1 entries- इन्गाळो noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Korean
4 entries- 매탄 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 매탄 noun (countable: carbon rock)
- 석탄 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- 석탄 noun (countable: carbon rock)
Koyraboro-Senni
1 entries- denji noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Kumyk
1 entries- кёмюр noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Kyrgyz
1 entries- көмүр noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ladino
2 entries- karvon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- קארביון noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Lak
2 entries- кӏалаш noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- хъуручӏ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Lao
1 entries- ຖ່ານຫີນ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Latgalian
1 entries- ūgle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Latin
1 entries- carbō noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Latvian
2 entries- akmeņogle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ogle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Laz
2 entries- ნოშქეი noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ნოშქერი noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Limburgish
3 entries- kaol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- keul noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- koeal noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Lingala
1 entries- makala noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Lithuanian
2 entries- akmens anglis noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- anglis noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Low German
1 entries- kuole noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Luba-Kasai
1 entries- dikala noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Luba-Katanga
1 entries- dikala noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ludian
1 entries- hilʹ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Luxembourgish
1 entries- Kuel noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Macedonian
2 entries- јаглен noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ќумур noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Maguindanao
1 entries- uling noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Malagasy
2 entries- arintany noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- tomboka noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Malay
2 entries- arang batu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- arang batu noun (countable: carbon rock)
Malayalam
1 entries- കൽക്കരി noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Maltese
1 entries- faħam noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Manchu
1 entries- ᠶᠠᡥᠠ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Manx
1 entries- geayl noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Mapudungun
1 entries- kuyub noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Maranao
1 entries- oring noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Marathi
2 entries- कोळसा noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- कोळसा noun (countable: carbon rock)
Mezquital-Otomi
1 entries- theñha noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Mingrelian
1 entries- ნოშქვერი noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Mohawk
1 entries- o’swén:ta noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Moksha
1 entries- седь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Mongolian
2 entries- нүүрс noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ᠨᠡᠭᠦᠷᠡᠰᠦ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Montagnais
2 entries- katshitekan noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- mashku-katshiteu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Māori
1 entries- waro noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Nahuatl
1 entries- teconalli noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Navajo
3 entries- tsékǫʼ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- łeejin noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- łeejin noun (countable: carbon rock)
Neapolitan
3 entries- carvùnë noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- cravone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- grauna noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Nepali
1 entries- कोइला noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Norman
3 entries- qùerboun noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- tcherbaon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- tchèrbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Northern Kurdish
3 entries- komirr noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kumirr noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- rejî noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Northern Sami
1 entries- geađgekoalla noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Norwegian Bokmål
2 entries- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kull noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Norwegian Nynorsk
1 entries- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Occitan
1 entries- carbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Odia
1 entries- କୋଇଲା noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ojibwe
1 entries- akakanshe noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Old East Slavic
2 entries- угль noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- угъль noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ossetian
1 entries- ӕвзалы noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ottoman Turkish
1 entries- كومور noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Pangasinan
1 entries- oring noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Pashto
1 entries- ذغال noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Pennsylvania German
1 entries- Kohl noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Pirahã
1 entries- hoaípói noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Plautdietsch
1 entries- Kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Polabian
1 entries- vǫďėl noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Polish
1 entries- węgiel noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Portuguese
3 entries- carvão noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carvão noun (countable: carbon rock)
- hulha noun (countable: carbon rock)
Punjabi
1 entries- ਕੋਲਾ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Quechua
1 entries- k'illimsa noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Rapa Nui
2 entries- arahu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ngarahu noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Romagnol
2 entries- carbôn noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbôn noun (countable: carbon rock)
Romanian
2 entries- cărbune noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- cărbune noun (countable: carbon rock)
Romansch
4 entries- carvung noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- charbun noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- charvun noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- cotgel noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Russian
3 entries- ка́менный у́голь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- у́голь noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- уголёк noun (countable: carbon rock)
Sanskrit
1 entries- अंगारः noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Sardinian
4 entries- calvone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carboni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carvone noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Scottish Gaelic
2 entries- gual noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- gual noun (countable: carbon rock)
Serbo-Croatian
4 entries- ugalj noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ugljen noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ćumur noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- угаљ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Shor
1 entries- кӧбӱр noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Sicilian
4 entries- carbuni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carvuni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- crauni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- cravuni noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Silesian
1 entries- wōngel noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Sinhalese
1 entries- ගල්අතුරු noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Slovak
1 entries- uhlie noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Slovene
2 entries- ogel noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- premog noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Somali
1 entries- dhuxul noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Spanish
3 entries- carbón noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- carbón noun (countable: carbon rock)
- hulla noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Swabian
1 entries- kohle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Swahili
2 entries- kaa noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- mkaa noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Swazi
1 entries- lilahla noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Swedish
4 entries- kol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- kol noun (countable: carbon rock)
- kolbit noun (countable: carbon rock)
- stenkol noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tagalog
1 entries- uling noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tajik
4 entries- ангишт noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- ангишт noun (countable: carbon rock)
- ангиштсанг noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- зуғолсанг noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tamil
1 entries- நிலக்கரி noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Taos
1 entries- ùyphaʼána noun (countable: carbon rock)
Tatar
1 entries- күмер noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Telugu
1 entries- బొగ్గు noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tetum
1 entries- anar noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Thai
1 entries- ถ่านหิน noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tibetan
2 entries- རྡོ་གསོལ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- རྡོ་སོལ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Turkish
1 entries- kömür noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Turkmen
1 entries- kömür noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tzeltal
1 entries- ac'al noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Tzotzil
1 entries- ac'al noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Udmurt
1 entries- эгыр noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Ukrainian
4 entries- ву́гля noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- вугі́лля noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- вугі́ллячко noun (countable: carbon rock)
- ка́м'яне вугі́лля noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Upper Sorbian
1 entries- wuhlo noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Urdu
3 entries- اَن٘گِشْت noun (countable: carbon rock)
- زُغال noun (countable: carbon rock)
- کوئِلَہ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Uyghur
1 entries- كۆمۈر noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Uzbek
1 entries- koʻmir noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Vehes
1 entries- carbó noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Venetan
1 entries- carbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Veps
1 entries- hilʹ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Vietnamese
1 entries- than đá noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Vilamovian
1 entries- köła noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Volapük
1 entries- kolat noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Votic
1 entries- süsi noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Võro
1 entries- hüdsi noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Walloon
2 entries- hoye noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- tcherbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Waray-Waray
2 entries- karbon noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- uring noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Welsh
2 entries- glo noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- glöyn noun (countable: carbon rock)
West-Frisian
1 entries- koal noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
White Hmong
2 entries- thee noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
- thee noun (countable: carbon rock)
Wolof
1 entries- këriñ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Wu Chinese
1 entries- 煤 noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Xhosa
1 entries- amalahle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Yakut
1 entries- чох noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Yiddish
1 entries- קויל noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Yucatec Maya
1 entries- chúuk noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Yup'ik
1 entries- cupun noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Yámana
1 entries- ikipašax noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Zoogocho Zapotec
1 entries- baoꞌ noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Zulu
1 entries- amalahle noun (uncountable: carbon rock)
Sample sentences
36 total sentences available.
We have used our ration of coal for the week.
Source: tatoeba (27716)
The vessel was loaded with coal, lumber, and so on.
Source: tatoeba (45713)
Will the strike affect the price of coal?
Source: tatoeba (51883)
Showing 4 of 36 available sentences.
Common questions
What are the closest synonyms for "coal"?
Closest matches include alabaster, alcohol, anthracite, ash, ashes.
How should I check whether a synonym fits "coal"?
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.