Yes, Chinese has synonyms too. I think they behave in the same way English synonyms do. For example, each of the 2 words that have similar meaning may has many other different meanings that are not similar to the other. Some words can replace their synonyms and some cannot due to subtle (or major) differences. Take the case of 情 and 爱. They both mean "love", but when it comes to love between men and women, 情 is more romantic and poetic, less violent, involves more mental connections, and sounds more classy as well. In short, it's a more reserved and classic word than 爱. I saw many in the West like to have 爱 as their tattoo. In my personal opinion, it sucks compared to 情, because 爱 sounds "lascivous" to me when you want to express your "love" to your lover in Chinese, while 情 makes people come up with an image in their heads where you write a poem to vent your feelings for not being with your lover. 爱 is definitely not a bad word, just an example of subtle difference for synonyms in Chinese. I believe there are cases like this in English too, just not the word "love". Feel 情: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YU0pxzFB57M Feel 爱: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjHh6saxVaM Some synonyms have similar meaning, but one is in a approval way and the other is in a disapproval way. I can't think of one right now but there is. A good Chinese dictionary site: 爱词霸 www.iciba.com It's also a English-Chinese and Chinese-English dictionary. It will show synonym（近义词） and antonym（反义词） section (you need to select the tab) if the word you search for has any. Just remember if you want to know an adjective's synonyms, don't input 的 after the word as in 可爱的(lovely, cute), you just enter 可爱. You'll know why when you learn more.

汉语博大精神哈哈