Synonyms for sponge

Most common

1. Wet — A heavy drinker

2. Bath sponge — any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica

3. Leech — A person who takes advantage of the generosity of others (abstractly imagined to absorb or soak up the money…

Other

quick study, poolish, parazoan

1. Bum

bum, grub, cadge

2. Wipe

wipe, erase, efface, obliterate, expunge

Other

n. 1
Any of various marine invertebrates of the phylum Porifera, that have a porous skeleton often of silica.
n. 2
A heavy drinker.
v. 1
To take advantage of the kindness of others.
He has been sponging off his friends for a month now.
v. 2
To get by imposition; to scrounge.

Word family: spongebags spongecase spongelet spongelike spongeware spongy
Phrases: fun sponge glass sponge sponge bag sponge gourd sponge toffee bath sponge sea sponge sponge ball

Sponge or Brush?

We brush clothing if dusty, sponge it, or sponge it off, if soiled; or sponge off a spot.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

3 letters: wet¹, bum¹, tun, sot¹
4 letters: wipe¹, soak¹, lush¹, grub¹, wino², blag, mump
5 letters: drunk¹, erase², leech¹, rummy², mooch, souse, cadge¹, toper
6 letters: absorb², sucker², dampen², boozer², imbibe², soaker², lusher², efface², bibber, bludge, scunge
7 letters: expunge², guzzler², tippler, sponger, porifer, poolish
8 letters: parasite³, drunkard², scrounge¹, parazoan
9 letters: alcoholic⁴, inebriate⁴, poriferan
10 letters: obliterate⁴, parasitize, boozehound, parasitise
11 letters: dipsomaniac

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (wino² = 2 syllables).