These words refer to successfully executing a task or arriving at a goal. Reach stresses arrival, regardless of whether the goal has been chosen in advance or whether great or little effort has been expended: We reached an unfamiliar quarter of the city after an hour of aimless walking; those few who reach the finishing line in the hazardous obstacle course. The word can also indicate effort that expresses intention rather than successful completion: He reached for a book on the shelf above his head. Earn can point to the automatic accruing of money or benefits because on one’s work or situation: How much do you earn a week?; shares that earn a handsome annual dividend. More pertinent here, the word can suggest the struggle to acquire a special position or distinction: She worked hard to earn her music diploma. The word can also indicate the awarding of an honour or benefit because of the excellence of some completed task: a novel that earned him a literary award. In this case, the honour cannot necessarily be foreseen or worked towards as a goal.

Achieve and attain can both emphasize the reaching of an intended goal, usually through sustained effort. But achieve can indicate the working out of a set or standard procedure, whereas attain more often applies to a goal towards which someone has aspired without being sure in advance that he would be successful: a series of experiments that achieved their purpose; They attained a decisive victory in the hard-fought battle. When these words apply to the acquiring of a possibly unexpected distinction, their implications are different. In this case, achieve may indicate a deserved success, won because of merit or effort, whereas attain is open to other implications: a searching book that achieved an awakening of the nation’s conscience to the problems of conservation; a trivial play that attained a successful run.

Accomplish can stress the mere completion of a set task: He accomplished the building of the bookcase, although the result was a rather rickety affair. More favourably, the word can function like attain to indicate something executed with distinction: the first to accomplish the difficult work of deciphering the Minoan script. While the word always indicates success, whether minimal or exceptional, it often concentrates on interpretive or technical skills rather than creative or original work: a pianist who was able to accomplish the difficult passage work in the sonata with ease and brilliance.