Fare and fair are pronounced exactly the same and have many different meanings spanning different parts of speech, including nouns, adjectives, and verbs. This can make things very confusing. Is it fare well or farewell? And when you ask someone how things turned out, should you say How did you fare? or How did you fair? In this article, we’ll break down the differences, provide …
The republic of Turkey (look north of Egypt, east of Greece) isn’t exactly a breeding ground for the bird that Americans associate with Thanksgiving. In fact, the turkey is native to North America … so, why do they share the same name? Meleagris gallopavo domestico or the domestic turkey is an odd-looking bird that’s known for its bare head, wattle, and iridescent plumage. It’s descended from a …
Are those reins on a horse or reigns? Is it rein in or reign in? Free rein or free reign? Confusion is understandable: reign and rein are pronounced exactly the same and are almost spelled the same—except for the silent G in reign (which is a big clue, actually). And both involve control. We’ll make it easy to tell apart rein and reign and remember …
We use a lot … a lot. But ask someone to define a lot and they’ll probably start by saying “A lot means … a lot!” That’s because it’s so commonly used that it can be hard to think of how to explain it. A lot can seem like it should be a single word—and maybe one day the spelling alot will appear in this …
Are you staring at piles and piles of junk and becoming increasingly concerned about the accumulation in, uh, someone‘s apartment? No judgment if you’re asking for “a friend”! We’re here to help you use the right words to describe this problem. To properly examine the issue, we’ve got to get the vocabulary pinned down: does this chaos signal a problem with hoarding? Or the tendency …
What’s the deal with these two useful words? With only a two-letter difference, it can seem at first that spelling may be the only distinction between them. But, of course, you know us … and we wouldn’t be here talking about these two words if there weren’t more differences between them. So how can we more easily tell the difference between these two? Luckily for …