diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index bfc20bd..cdacf1f 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -115,6 +115,7 @@ This config will:
 |`matchBy`|how to compare the two values, see `matchBy` below|`string`|
 |`remove`|if present: before comparison, remove this string from both values|`null`|
 |`zeroRepresentsEmpty`|if true: before comparison, convert any zero values (e.g. `0`, `0.0`) to empty string|`false`|
+|`synonyms`|if present: this is a nested list of terms that should be treated as identical. For example, with these synonyms: `[ ["street", "st"], ["n", "north"] ]`, then `123 North Main St` will match `123 N Main Street`|`null`|
 
 ### `matchBy` options
 
diff --git a/src/XlsxCompare.Tests/AssertionTests.cs b/src/XlsxCompare.Tests/AssertionTests.cs
index 8009f31..38142ec 100644
--- a/src/XlsxCompare.Tests/AssertionTests.cs
+++ b/src/XlsxCompare.Tests/AssertionTests.cs
@@ -29,6 +29,20 @@ public static IEnumerable<object[]> AssertionsThatMatch()
                 "",
                 "0.00"
             };
+            yield return new object[]{
+                new Assertion("leftCol", "rightCol",
+                    MatchBy: MatchBy.Tokens,
+                    Synonyms: new[]{new HashSet<string>(new[]{"rd", "Road"})}),
+                "1234\tFOO\tROAD\tS\t# 123A",
+                "1234 S Foo Rd # 123A"
+            };
+
+            yield return new object[]{
+                new Assertion("leftCol", "rightCol",
+                    Synonyms: new[]{new HashSet<string>(new[]{"suite", " ste"})}),
+                "Suite 2",
+                "Ste 2"
+            };
         }
 
         [TestMethod]
@@ -60,6 +74,11 @@ public static IEnumerable<object[]> AssertionsThatDoNotMatch()
                 "1",
                 "0"
             };
+            yield return new object[]{
+                new Assertion("leftCol", "rightCol", Synonyms: new[]{new HashSet<string>(new[]{"rd", "road"})}),
+                "foord",
+                "fooroad"
+            };
         }
         [TestMethod]
         [DynamicData(nameof(AssertionsThatDoNotMatch), DynamicDataSourceType.Method)]
diff --git a/src/XlsxCompare/Assertion.cs b/src/XlsxCompare/Assertion.cs
index 90ea0d5..4f2e793 100644
--- a/src/XlsxCompare/Assertion.cs
+++ b/src/XlsxCompare/Assertion.cs
@@ -1,13 +1,28 @@
+using System;
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Linq;
+
 namespace XlsxCompare
 {
+
     public record Assertion(
         string LeftColumnName,
         string RightColumnName,
         MatchBy? MatchBy = null,
         string? Remove = null,
-        bool ZeroRepresentsEmpty = false
+        bool ZeroRepresentsEmpty = false,
+        IReadOnlyCollection<ISet<string>>? Synonyms = null
         )
     {
+        private bool HasSynonyms => Synonyms?.Any() == true;
+
+        /// <summary>
+        /// map from a synonym to it's canonical form
+        /// </summary>
+        private IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string> SynonymMap
+            => _synonymMapCache ??= CreateSynonymMap();
+        private IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string>? _synonymMapCache;
+
         public bool IsMatch(string left, string right)
         {
             if (Remove != null)
@@ -20,6 +35,12 @@ public bool IsMatch(string left, string right)
                 left = NormalizeZeroToEmpty(left);
                 right = NormalizeZeroToEmpty(right);
             }
+            if (HasSynonyms)
+            {
+                left = NormalizeSynonyms(left);
+                right = NormalizeSynonyms(right);
+            }
+
             return MatchBy.IsMatch(left, right);
         }
 
@@ -27,5 +48,40 @@ private static string NormalizeZeroToEmpty(string input)
             => decimal.TryParse(input, out var parsed) && parsed == 0
                 ? ""
                 : input;
-    };
+
+        private string NormalizeSynonyms(string input)
+        {
+            var tokens = input.Split(new[] { ' ', '\t', '\n', '\r' }, StringSplitOptions.TrimEntries | StringSplitOptions.RemoveEmptyEntries)
+                .Select(NormalizeSynonym);
+            return string.Join(' ', tokens);
+        }
+
+        private string NormalizeSynonym(string token)
+            => SynonymMap.TryGetValue(token, out var replacement)
+                    ? replacement
+                    : token;
+
+        private IReadOnlyDictionary<string, string> CreateSynonymMap()
+        {
+            // don't want to care about capitalization
+            var mapping = new Dictionary<string, string>(StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+
+            foreach (var set in Synonyms ?? Enumerable.Empty<ISet<string>>())
+            {
+                // don't want to care about whitespace
+                var winner = set.First().Trim();
+                foreach (var synonym in set.Select(x => x.Trim()))
+                {
+                    if (synonym.Contains(' '))
+                    {
+                        throw new NotSupportedException($"multi-word synonyms are not supported: '{synonym}'");
+                    }
+                    mapping.Add(synonym, winner);
+                };
+            }
+
+            return mapping;
+        }
+
+    }
 }