Ranked by relevance and common usage.
Keep "wantok" 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.
Choose a synonym only if it keeps the core idea of "wantok" intact in the sentence you are editing.
Check whether the replacement sounds more formal, casual, emotional, technical, or forceful than the original word.
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.
After choosing a replacement for "wantok", 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 "wantok" or choose a simpler alternative from the closest-match group.
6 total sentences available.
I refer to the classes of settlers thus distinguished as ‘wantok’ (although their members did not always have the same mother tongue), and the areas from which they came as ‘home areas’. […] There were 7 groups of wantok among the Situm block-holders and 4 among the Gobari holders.
Source: wiktionary
In Saraga, there are more wantoks (3.16) per household than in Bumbu (2.7). […] Like Bumbu, almost 80 percent approves of their wantoks living with them but half of the respondents would not like to see an increase in the wantoks in their houses.
Source: wiktionary
If one steals or cheats to help a wantok one feels not guilty or one might feel ethically obliged to fight to support a wantok without considering whether the wantok is right or wrong.
Source: wiktionary
The vernacular still plays an important role in Melanesian notions of cultural identity, as reflected in the concept of wantok 'one who speaks the same language', and thus has primacy over a lingua franca, but Tok Pisin has become increasingly important as a language defining wantoks: […]
Source: wiktionary
Showing 4 of 6 available sentences.
Closest matches include friend.
Compare the replacement against real sentence context. This entry includes sample sentences so you can check tone, grammar, and meaning before swapping words.