An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for “Assortment,” “Mixture,” or “Variety”

This post lists thirty words to employ as alternatives for assortment, mixture, and variety, accompanied by brief definitions.

1–2. An agglomerate or agglomeration is a jumbled collection or mass, and the first variant also serves as a noun and an adjective (and can also refer to a volcanic rock consisting of various combined fragments). Agglomeration can also refer to the action or process of massing.
3. To botch is to bungle, or make a mess of, but the word can also describe the mess itself as a noun.
4. Clutter implies a concentrated assortment that impedes effectiveness or progress.
5. A collage is an artistic composition consisting of assorted elements or materials, but by extension the word can also refer to an assortment of any kind.
6. “Crazy quilt” implies a random assemblage of parts, from the original notion of a quilt consisting of odds and ends of fabric, though quilts are generally now assembled to create a pattern.
7. A farrago is a confused assortment.
8. A grab bag was originally a prize handed out at a fair or another event and consisting of a small sack with assorted toys and/or treats. Now, the phrase refers to any random collection.
9. Jumble suggests a disordered assortment.
10. Jungle, besides its primary meaning of “a region of tropical vegetation,” by extension can refer to a confused mass as well as a complex process.
11. Litter, from the Latin word for bed, came by extension from the sense of animal bedding material or organic matter on a forest floor to refer to accumulated objects strewn about.
12. Though medley is primarily understood to mean “a series of portions of two or more songs compiled as a single composition,” its original meaning is “mix.”
13. Mélange refers to a usually incompatible assortment.
14. Cognate with manage, menagerie first applied to management of a farm and its livestock, then to a collection of or place for keeping animals for exhibition, and then, by extension, to any assortment.
15. A miscellany or miscellanea is a collection of various compositions or things.
16. A mishmash is an assortment of things literally or figuratively mashed together.
17. “Mixed bag” in similar to “grab bag” in current meaning, although the phrase more often refers to something with both positive and negative impacts.
18. Montage usually refers to a visual medley, but it can also be directly synonymous with medley in both artistic and general senses.
19. Motley originally had a sense of “multicolored” and described the variegated-pattern attire of the stock theatrical character Harlequin or a court jester, but it later came to describe a varied assortment.
20. To muddle is to make confused or unclear, and the noun refers to being mentally confused or to objects being in a state of confusion.
21. An olio is a collection or mixture.
22. A hybrid Latin/English term that literally means “gather all,” omnium-gatherum suggests a collection.
23–24. Patchwork, and “patchwork quilt,” denote a disordered collection, from the notion of a quilt made of assorted patches of fabric or something analogous to it in appearance.
25. A ragbag was originally a sack containing scraps of fabric, and by extensive the word came to refer to an assortment.
26. Rummage is primarily employed as a verb meaning “search,” but as a noun it refers both to a search through an assortment of objects or such a collection itself.
27. Similarly, to scramble is to rush or to make a difficult, energetic effort, but as a noun, the word pertains to a disordered collection that would require such activity when searching for something in it.
28. Shuffle describes the action of rearranging or moving back and forth, and a shuffle is an assortment of things messily rearranged.
29. A tumble is a careless, disordered, or sudden fall, and based on the middle sense, the word may also refer to a collection of things in disarray.
30. A welter is a chaotic assortment.

Synonyms for assortment, mixture, and variety derived from names of food dishes are discussed in this post.

Click here to get access to 800+ interactive grammar exercises!

Publish your book with our partner InstantPublisher.com! Professionally printed in as few as 7 days.

---

Original post: An Assortment of 30 Synonyms for “Assortment,” “Mixture,” or “Variety”
from Daily Writing Tips
https://www.dailywritingtips.com/an-assortment-of-30-synonyms-for-assortment-mixture-or-variety/