Note: This feature has been disabled in Google Personalize, and visual thesaurus is not a free product anymore

I often struggle for words when I am writing long pieces.  Beyond a point it becomes boring to use the same word again and again across pages and I desperately start looking for new words to express my ideas. I then started using Wordnet of Princeton University.  Wordnet lets me navigate to related words (going beyond synonmys).  Apart from finding related words, it is also useful to find words to better express ideas I am struggling with.  Now, there is an interesting alternative in Google Personalize.

A software called Map my word creates word maps based on the selected word, and lets us navigate further by clicking on one of these.  The picture below, for example, is the map for the word “set”

I can now click on any of these meanings to explore the word that explains my thoughts best.  Apart from giving me my word, this system is visually pleasing.  It’s a great utility to have in my Google Personalize page. To add this plugin to your page, just go to “add stuff” on the top right and type “map my word dictionary”.  Else, you can search for the dictionary through the communications link on the right.