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The purpose of this study is as follows: First, it aims to investigate the differences between the words say and tell in terms of their semantic and syntactic properties. Second, to look into what kinds of syntactic structures are used in high school English textbooks and the SAT (for university admission) reading section. Third, to evaluate how well high school students understand the properties of these two words and use them. With regard to the first purpose, several references and Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary are referred to. For the second one, 17 high school English textbooks and SAT reading sections from 5 different years (totalling 165 questions) are analyzed through a simple concordance program. For the third, 111 female high school students were given three kinds of tests, which consist of 50 questions. The results show the following: First, say and tell have different distribution and usage even though they are likely to be treated as synonyms. Second, some syntactic structures are overused in the high school English textbooks and the SAT reading section. This may inhibit the students’ acquisition of the diverse syntactic structures of these two words. Third, although students’ understanding levels of both these words are similar, their capabilities of using each word are significantly different; they show more accuracy with tell.