Another Term for Diversity: Variety, Range and More

Diversity shows up in school essays, company reports, nature programs and news articles. Because it is a general word, it is easy to use too often, and it can be vague. A reader may not know whether you mean different kinds of people, different ideas, different species or different products on a shelf. If you need another term for diversity, the best choice depends on what is different and how formal your writing is. This guide sorts the options by meaning and register.

What diversity means

Cambridge Dictionary gives two senses. The first is the fact of many different types of things or people being included in something, a range of different things or people, as in cultural diversity. The second is the fact that there are many different ideas or opinions about something, as in a wide diversity of opinion. Wiktionary defines it as the quality of being diverse or different, and also as a variety, meaning diverse types or examples.

Dictionary.com adds a use in society and work: the range of individual differences, and the inclusion of people of different national origins, religions and backgrounds. That meaning is common in workplace English. In everyday and scientific English, the word more often just means variety.

So the core idea is this: diversity is a state in which a group contains many different kinds of members.

Everyday words: variety, range, mix, assortment

For most writing, these four words are the simplest swaps.

Variety is the most flexible. Wiktionary lists selection as a synonym for the sense meaning diverse types or examples, and Dictionary.com lists variety and assortment. These words work well with of and a plural noun: a variety of colors, a range of options, a mix of cultures.

Notice what happens when you choose the exact word. The school has diversity is vague. The school has students from forty countries or the school offers a range of sports says what is actually different. Often the best replacement for a general word is a specific fact.

Formal and technical words

In academic and formal writing you will meet longer words.

• Multiplicity: a large number of different things. The multiplicity of causes makes the problem hard to solve.
• Heterogeneity: the quality of being made up of different kinds of parts. Dictionary.com lists it as a synonym of diversity and gives homogeneity as the opposite. The heterogeneity of the sample affected the results.
• Variation: differences between members of a group or over time. There is wide variation in test scores.
• Disparity: an unfair or noticeable difference, usually between amounts. There is a disparity in pay. This one is about gaps, so it is not a neutral synonym.
• Plurality: the presence of many different views or groups. A plurality of voices is heard in the debate.

Use these when your readers expect formal language. For a general audience, variety and range read more easily. The guide to formal and informal vocabulary explains how to match your word to your reader.

Words for nature and science

In science, diversity often appears in a compound.

• Biodiversity (or biological diversity): the variety of living things in a place. Cambridge Dictionary lists the related adjective biodiverse in its group of words about variety and mixtures.
• Species richness: the number of different species in an area.
• Genetic variation: differences in genes within a species.
• Range of habitats: a variety of natural environments.

In these cases the compound is more exact than diversity alone. The reef has high biodiversity tells a reader more than the reef has diversity.

Words for people and ideas

When the topic is people, ideas or culture, a few phrases do the work of diversity with more clarity.

• A mix of backgrounds or a mix of cultures.
• A range of perspectives or a range of views.
• Differences in age, language and experience.
• A broad spread of skills.
• Pluralism, a formal word for the presence of many groups, beliefs or views in one society.

Cambridge Dictionary's second sense, a wide diversity of opinion, is well served by a wide range of opinions or many different views. Choose the phrase that names what differs.

Opposites of diversity

If your sentence needs the opposite, there are several choices. Dictionary.com lists similarity, sameness and resemblance as antonyms of the first sense and homogeneity as the opposite of the sense meaning variety.

Uniformity and homogeneity are the most common opposites in writing. The study found uniformity in the results is the opposite of diversity in the results.

Word family

Learning the family gives you more ways to rephrase a sentence.

• Noun: diversity, plural diversities.
• Adjective: diverse. A diverse group of speakers.
• Verb: diversify. The company diversified into new markets.
• Noun from the verb: diversification.
• Adverb: diversely.

Diverse is often a smoother choice than the noun. Instead of the diversity of the audience was clear, write the audience was diverse. This is the kind of change that the guide to nominalization describes: turning an abstract noun back into an adjective or verb makes the sentence shorter and more direct.

Wiktionary traces diversity to Middle English diversite, from Old French diversité, from Latin dīversitās, and Dictionary.com first records it in the first half of the 1300s. The Latin word is made from diverse and the suffix -ity, which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. The same suffix gives similarity, variability and many more.

Choosing quickly

Practice set

Choose the best word: variety, biodiversity, heterogeneity, range, uniformity.

1. The pet shop sells a ______ of birds.
2. The rainforest is known for its high ______.
3. The report noted the ______ of the sample, which came from many different groups.
4. The course covers a wide ______ of topics, from poetry to physics.
5. The factory aims for ______ in every product it makes.
6. Rewrite with diverse: "The diversity of the audience surprised us."

Answers: 1. variety. 2. biodiversity. 3. heterogeneity (formal, about a mixed sample). 4. range. 5. uniformity (everything the same). 6. "The audience was more diverse than we expected." The adjective makes the sentence shorter.

Making it stick

Choose two of these words each week, such as range and variety, and use each in a sentence about something you read or saw. A good card shows the word, the context (everyday, formal or nature), and a sentence. Review it a day later and again a few days after, as how spaced repetition works describes.

How Wordabulary fits in

Wordabulary finds your level with a placement assessment, then gives you practice and quizzes matched to it. Word pages show a definition, example sentences and related forms, which helps when you are choosing between close words.