怎么区分sop soak drench steep saturate?

sop vt. 指将(面包等)在液体中蘸或浸泡;用海绵、布等吸起(液体等)（sop something up)，强调的是行为。可以和soak互换。

soak vt. & vi. 让某物浸透，（液体）完全渗透 。强调的是浸透、湿透，一般浸的时间较长。eg. soak the beans overnight in water.

drench vt.(一般用be drenched) wet thoroughly; 可与soak 互换。一般用于被动形式。

steep vt. soak (food or tea) in water or other liquid so as to extract its flavour or to soften it. 这里steep的浸泡多是有目的性，为了使食物、荼变软或去味。eg.steep the tea in boiling water.
把（衣服或其他东西）泡在（水或其他液体）里。这里可以和soak互换。

saturate vt.（一般用 be saturated)cause (something) to become thoroughly soaked with water or other liquid so that no more can be absorbed 。所以saturate强调的是“饱和”状态，而且多用的是被动形式。作为“浸透”这个意思和drench,soak,steep都是同义词。

所以区别这几个词的关键要看所用的情境，因为作“浸透”这个意思，基本都可能通用，只是注意遵循一些特别的用法，比如有的词一般用于被动形式。

They are exchangeable literally. But you may find one is better than others in a given sentence. (That is part of the beauty of English language)

You sop a piece of bread into the soup. But you do say: saturate a piece o