Here’s a couple frequently confused with each other: “brake” and “break.” While I suspect it’s usually stumble-thumbs on the qwerty, let’s review to be sure.
Brake: To stop. Usually refers to a mechanical process, as in “I brake for bears.”
Break: Split, fracture, or another type of stopping. Like, “Let’s break for lunch” or “I didn’t mean to break that lamp.”
So I guess the way you spell it depends on whether your character is yelling at a train engineer or boxers.
These two used to cause me no end of trouble: “capital” and “capitol.”
Capital: assets; essential; main city. “This project needs more investment capital,” or “Austin is the capital of Texas,” or “I say, old chap, what a capital idea!”
Capitol: statehouse. One may refer to “the capitol dome,” for instance.
So what’s in your wallet?
Oh, here are some good ones:
Carat: Unit of weight in gemstones
Caret: A proofreading mark (ˆ) to show insertion
Carrot: An edible root, especially for wascally wabbits
Karat: A unit for measuring the fineness of gold
All of the following are pronounced “key.”
Cay: A small, low island, like Grand Cayman (whose name is pronounced as spelled. Don’t ya just love it?)
Key: A small, low island off Florida (sigh) OR an instrument for opening locks.
Quay: wharf, dock, pier.
And these are all pronounced “chilly,” more or less.
Chile: A country of miner heroes
Chili: A type of hot pepper; a dish containing these peppers.
Chilly: Cool and brisk
This set of homonyms always causes trouble.
Cite: To assert; to quote from; to subpoena
Sight: Vision; the power to see
Site: location or position
Even the dictionary has confused me on this:
Desert: A desolate area, to abandon
Dessert: This gets an extra s for sugar
A tricky one I just learned:
Discreet: Careful, confidential
Discrete: Individual, distinct
Okay, that’s enough for today.
