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When talking to Japanese people they tend to use 一緒 when describing things
that are the same. I have always thought that 同じ should be used when
describing things that are the same.

Is 一緒 just an informal way of 同じ or there is more to it?

For example:

> それはこの意味と **一緒** ですよね。That has **the same** meaning as this, doesn't it?

> 私たちはお休みの日が **一緒** ですね。Our days off are **the same**.

> 花子と私は去年 **一緒** のクラスにいました。Hanako and I were in **the same** class last year.
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2020-07-29T06:33:48.443
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2020-07-29T09:11:10.753
2020-07-29T07:27:30.963
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question
word-choice colloquial-language
When 一緒 means "the same", is there a difference in usage between 一緒 and 同じ?
There's a very interesting article on exactly this topic. My explanation below
is a brief summary of said article.

  * [https://okurukotoba.tokyo/archives/4120#:~:text=%E6%9C%80%E5%88%9D%E3%81%AB%E3%80%81%E3%80%8C%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8,%E3%81%9D%E3%81%AE%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E6%84%8F%E5%91%B3%E3%81%AF%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%E3%80%82](https://okurukotoba.tokyo/archives/4120#:%7E:text=%E6%9C%80%E5%88%9D%E3%81%AB%E3%80%81%E3%80%8C%E5%90%8C%E3%81%98%E3%80%8D%E3%81%A8,%E3%81%9D%E3%81%AE%E3%82%82%E3%81%AE%E3%81%A8%E3%81%84%E3%81%86%E6%84%8F%E5%91%B3%E3%81%AF%E3%81%82%E3%82%8A%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93%E3%80%82)

同じ has two meanings:

  * (Meaning 1) Among **two or more** things, a specific aspect is seen to be equal. For example, 「AとBは **同じ** 大きさだ」.
  * (Meaning 2) **One** thing only is referred to as being the same. For example, 「毎日 **同じ** 靴を履いて外出する」.

**一緒 can be used interchangeably for Meaning (1) above, but not for Meaning
(2).**  
All your sentences are examples of Meaning 1, wherein two things are compared
and found to have an equal aspect (That+This, Same meaning/Me+You, Same day
off/Hanako+Me, Same class).

For Meaning (1) you can have sentences like 「あなたの映画の好みは、私と **一緒** だ」 or
「あなたの映画の好みは、私と **同じ** だ」. However, 一緒 has additional usages which
differentiate it from 同じ. For example, it is used to mean 'doing the same
thing', referring to actions or behaviour. Sentences which use 一緒に including
other people use that meaning (一緒に映画に行きませんか？). It can also be used to indicate
that two events happen at the same time (クリスマスと誕生日を一緒にお祝いする), or putting
things together (袋に一緒に入れる). For these additional meanings, 同じ cannot be used
interchangeably, only for Meaning (1).
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2020-07-29T09:11:10.753
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2020-07-29T09:11:10.753
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answer