They are, for the most part, interchangeable. As for a similar word, "all" is similar. I'll explain: ____________________________________________________________ ALL “All (of the)” can generally be used with all types of noun, e.g.: Singular countable nouns The lessor has leased all of the building. I waited all morning for a call from London. Plural countable nouns They have plans to sell all or a significant portion of the assets. Have they paid all the invoices from 2015 yet? Uncountable nouns Please send us all the documentation you have on the matter. They have not sent us all the information we asked for. ____________________________________________________________ WHOLE “Whole (of the)” can be used with singular countable nouns, e.g.: The lessor has leased the whole building. We’ve rented the whole of the 5th floor as we’re planning to take on more staff. “Whole” cannot be used with plural countable nouns or uncountable nouns, e.g.: Plural countable nouns They have plans to sell the whole or a significant portion of the assets. Have they paid the whole of the invoices from 2015 yet? In the Contractor’s opinion the whole snags were rectified before handover of the building. => all the snags Uncountable nouns Please send us the whole documentation you have on the matter. They have not sent us the whole information we asked for. The Operator does not guarantee the off-take of the whole electric energy generated at the wind farm. => all the electric energy REFERENCE: https://blog.harwardcommunications.com/2016/11/17/how-to-use-all-whole-and-entire/

All = the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or things. Whole = undamaged in one piece Whole = complete all of the entire Entire = no part left out undamaged not damage “Did you collect all of the shopping?” “Don’t forget to bring the entire stock to the new warehouse” “Upon inspecting the delivered items we found the order was not wholly fulfilled, there were three items missing and six were damaged”

Thanks, DavidK.

The entire team is over 200cm tall. (Everyone on the team is over 200 cm tall) The whole team plays explosively. (The team as a whole, as a unit functioning together, plays explosively.)

You may want to consult a thesaurus to see a discussion and examples of the fine differences in meaning between synonyms. www.merriam-webster.com