EnglishBlitz
toeic-linkpart-5grammarword-choicevocabulary

TOEIC Link Part 5: amiable versus amicable

Amiable and amicable both come from the Latin for friend, but they describe different things: amiable describes a person who is friendly and pleasant by nature, while amicable describes a relationship, agreement, or settlement conducted in a friendly, non-hostile way. Part 5 tests whether the blank modifies a person or a dealing between parties.

EnglishBlitz Team·

TOEIC Link Part 5: amiable versus amicable

Amiable and amicable share a Latin root (amicus, friend), so both carry a warm, friendly flavor — but they attach to different nouns. Amiable describes a person (or a person's manner) who is good-natured and easy to like. Amicable describes a relationship, negotiation, or arrangement that is friendly and free of conflict, especially where the parties could have quarreled. Part 5 rewards you for asking whether the blank is describing someone's personality or the tone of a dealing between two sides. For the wider set of look-alike traps, start with the commonly confused word pairs master index.

The core rule: a friendly person versus a friendly arrangement

  • amiable (adjective) = pleasant, good-tempered, likeable — used of people and their moods. The new receptionist is remarkably amiable. / He gave an amiable smile to every guest. It answers what is this person like? Anchor it with the -able ending: an amiable colleague is someone you are able to get along with easily.
  • amicable (adjective) = friendly, without hostility — used of agreements, settlements, separations, and relations between parties. The two companies reached an amicable settlement. / They kept an amicable working relationship after the merger. It answers how did the two sides deal with each other? Anchor it with -cable: think of an amicable deal as a cable connecting two parties peacefully.

A quick anchor: amiable is a quality of one person; amicable is a quality of a relationship between people or organizations. An amiable manager can help two departments reach an amicable agreement — one word is the trait, the other is the outcome.

Why Part 5 likes this pair

Both words are formal, positive adjectives that fit smoothly into corporate sentences, so the item hinges on the noun each modifies — a human subject or an abstract dealing.

The negotiations remained __ despite the difficult terms.

Negotiations are a dealing between parties, so the answer is amicable.

Clients describe the consultant as warm and __.

A consultant is a person, so the answer is amiable.

Spotting the clue

Look at the noun the adjective modifies, then decide whether it is a person or a relationship:

  • Does it describe a person, their smile, tone, or manner? → choose amiable (an amiable host, an amiable disposition).
  • Does it describe a settlement, divorce, agreement, split, or relations between sides? → choose amicable (an amicable divorce, an amicable resolution, remain on amicable terms).

A quick test: can you replace the word with "good-natured" and still mean a person? Then it is amiable. Can you replace it with "conducted without hostility" about a deal or split? Then it is amicable. In TOEIC business scenarios — mergers, contract disputes, staff departures — the friendly outcome is almost always amicable, while a friendly individual is amiable. For more pairs where a shared root hides a grammatical difference, see the adjective and adverb confusable pairs study guide.