Google Translate Gets A Better Dictionary With Smarter Rankings, Reverse Translations And Grouped Synonyms

Google just launched an update to Google Translate that brings a few new features to the tool that will make it easier to decide which translation of a given word is the one you’re actually looking for.

With this update, Google Translate will now rank possible translations by frequency. Every possible translation is now also marked as common, uncommon or rare and this ranking is based on, as Google says, “the vast number of translations we use to train our system.” Very rare translations will actually be hidden by default, but you can bring them back with a single click.

Google Translate now also groups synonymous translations together when their meaning is closely related. For the time being, this feature is only available in English. Another new feature is reverse translations. Google Translate’s users, the company says, often check the tool’s translations by translating them back into their original language. This, says Google, can help its users “distinguish translations of different meanings and reveal subtle differences among similar words.”