With my Spanish-speaking students, I used to have a lesson on the 7 meanings of the Spanish word "tierra" in English. These are four of the meanings (except soil, which I think is suela in Spanish).
Land - essentially is what you own. A farm is on a plot of land. A private house is on a lot, which is land. An office building is on a lot, which is land.
When you leave a ship, you go from being on the water to being on land.
Ground - what you walk, stand or sit on (and get your trousers dirty). Don �t sit on the concrete. It �s too hard. Put a blanket on the ground and sit on that.
Soil - what you can pick up in your hand, especially in a farming/gardening sense. The soil is great in my backyard, so I have a wonderful garden. If you plant the same crop every year, the soil will be depleted of nutrients.
earth - can by essentially synonymous with soil. It is also the planet we live on. There are many farms here in Ohio, because the earth is very good/because the soil is very good.
I hope this is what you need to know. There are many other nuances, but these are the basics.
Bruce
