solutions
Word family
Synonym discussion
Sense: noun/1
These words all point to ways of dealing with a problem, but they do not sound the same. Solutions is the broadest choice when you mean one or more methods that really deal with the difficulty, whether the setting is school, work, or public planning. Answers can be much shorter and often fit questions, puzzles, or tests, not only real-world problems. Fixes is informal and suggests a practical repair, sometimes quick rather than complete. Remedies is more formal and often appears with illness, unfair rules, or social problems. If a town is discussing flood protection, solutions sounds natural; if you are replying to a maths question, answers fits better.
Etymology
Solutions is the regular plural of solution. The older word came into English through French from Latin solutio, built from a verb meaning to loosen or release. That idea first shaped the chemical sense of something being dissolved, and later English extended it to the sense of a problem being worked out or released from difficulty.
First known use
14th century
14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1b