Play and Trick

Play

Play noun - A clever often underhanded means to achieve an end.

Usage example: the guy at the bar made an unusually creative play to get her phone number

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Trick and play are semantically related. In some cases you can use "Trick" instead the word "Play" as a noun or a verb.

Nearby Words: played, playful, player, playfulness, playing

Trick noun - A clever often underhanded means to achieve an end.

Usage example: her husband used every trick in the book to get out of appearing in his parish's fashion show

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Play and trick are semantically related. Sometimes you can use "Play" instead the word "Trick" as a noun or a verb.

Nearby Words: tricky, trickery, trickle, tricked, trickster

old	old play	old trick
good	good play	good trick
standard	standard play	standard trick
single	single play	single trick
Other adjectives: obvious, popular, actual, real, successful, big, great, little, infamous, main, interesting, famous, new, final, classic, next, double, last, latest, different.

character	play character	trick character
hero	play hero	trick hero
man	play man	trick man
guy	play guy	trick guy
Other words: time, way, characters, game, villain, doctor.

Obviously enough, they are called shapeshifters, and often ply their powers for fun and profit (whether good or evil), or simply to trick or play practical jokes on normal folks.

Source: Shapeshifting
Cologne in Ranma ½, although while she is generally laid-back she is always demonstrated as highly competent and is not used as comic relief, beyond occasionally finding it diverting to trick or play games with other people.

Source: Eccentric Mentor
Obviously, since this play on words doesn't work in English, the translators renamed the latter ability to "ghost" in English, and "trick" has been repurposed for the power to manipulate those objects, simply ayatsuru (manipulate, control) in Japanese.

Source: Video Game / Ghost Trick

Cite this Source

Trick and Play. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 22, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/trick

Play & Trick. N.p., 2016. Web. 22 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/trick>.

Trick or Play. 2016. Accessed July 22, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/play/trick.

Google Ngram Viewer shows how "play" and "trick" have occurred on timeline