FCE Vocabulary: Right word, wrong word

If you're doing the First Certificate this year, you've probably noticed that you are expected to understand the difference between words that seem really similar, but are used in different circumstances.

Here's an example of something I did in class with Irene last night (and with Juan Francisco on Thursday). Can you describe the differences between these words?

FRIEND

PAL

CLASSMATE

CO-WORKER

BUDDY

SOUL-MATE?


I'll post the answer tomorrow (Saturday.)

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UPDATE - Saturday:

Right! Here are the answers. Thanks to everyone who wrote in with ideas and explanations.

The OALD defines FRIEND as: a person you know well and like, and who is not usually a member of your family.

A PAL is closer to the idea of ACQUAINTANCE - someone you know, but not very well. Put another way: If you were in jail at 4AM on a Saturday, you would call a friend to help you (not a pal...unless you have no friends, I guess.) 

BUDDY is similar to PAL, but it's a slightly older term. Your parents, for example, would use "buddy", but it's not a word that you hear teenagers say these days.

A CLASSMATE is someone who's in your class at school (or university or a night or language class): you share the common context of education (and it doesn't automatically mean that the person is your friend.) CO-WORKER has the common context of work. Spanish speakers of English might find CO-WORKER easier to pronounce than "colleague" (which comes out sounding too much like "college".)

SOUL-MATE has the idea of: "a person that you have a special friendship with because you understand each other's feelings and interests".   It's often (but not always) used in romantic contexts.