Sometimes "said" is just what you need, but consider these other possibilities:
acknowledged, added, admitted, advised, agreed, announced,
answered, approved, argued, asked, assumed , assured
,babbled, bargained, babbled, boasted, bragged, called,
claimed, commanded , commented, cried, decided,
demanded, described, denied, dictated, emphasized,
estimated, exclaimed, expressed, feared, giggled, grunted,
indicated, insisted, laughed, lectured, lied, mentioned,
moaned, mumbled, murmured, nagged, noted, notified,
objected, observed, ordered, pleaded, pointed out, prayed,
predicted, questioned, reassured, related, repeated, relied,
requested, responded, related, revealed, roared, ruled,
scolded, screamed, shouted, shrieked, snapped, sneered,
sobbed, spoke, sputtered, stammered, stated, stormed,
suggested, taunted, thought, told, urged, uttered, vowed,
wailed, warned, whispered
