Vocabulary - The difference between "Heavy" and "Strong"

Heavy and strong are both adjectives that describe intensity, but they are used with different types of nouns.

Heavy → rain, snow, traffic, smoker, bag, workload, sleeper, heart, feeling

Strong → coffee, tea, wind, smell, opinion, argument, possibility, feeling, person

Heavy usually refers to weight or quantity.

• There was heavy rain last night. (a lot of rain)
• He’s a heavy smoker. (he smokes a lot)

Strong refers to power, intensity or force.

• I like strong coffee. (intense flavor)
• There was a strong wind at the beach. (powerful wind)

Some nouns can go with both, but the meaning changes:

• Heavy feeling = emotional weight
• Strong feeling = powerful emotion

ACTIVITIES

1 - Complete the sentences using heavy or strong.

2 - Choose the most natural adjective for each word.

3 - Write, in the comments, a short paragraph (6–8 sentences) describing a rainy day using at least 3 collocations with heavy and 2 collocations with strong. Be creative! You can describe the weather, the mood, what you did, etc.