Another edition of Word Nerd Wednesday with homophones brought to my attention by my trusty readers.
When a bolt of bright electricity shoots through the sky during a storm, that is lightning.
When dawn comes, the darkness is going away and the room may be lightening.
Lead/Led
I see these two words used interchangeably, both as the past tense form of what a follower does with a leader. The confusion likely happens because the past tense of the verb lead is led, which happens to rhyme with the metal lead.
Present tense: I walk through the forest and lead the way for those behind me.
Past tense: I walked through the forest; I led the way for those behind me.
Anyway/Any Way
If something happens in spite of someone's efforts, it takes place anyway.
If you wonder whether something is possible, you may ask if there is any way it could come about.
Throws/Throes
When Mark pitches a baseball, he throws it.
When Janet is dealing with emotional turmoil, she could be in the throes of depression. Someone else could be in the last throes of death, or in the throes of passion.
Threw/Through/Thru
First word here is simply the past tense of the one above: Mark threw the ball.
Something or someone passes through something else, such as a train through a tunnel.
An old-fashioned version of through is thru.
Peak/Peek/Pique
The top of a gable roof has a peak.
If you're peering around a corner, you may catch a peek at something secret.
The first page of a book may pique your interest.
All Together/Altogether
If something is very complicated, it could be altogether confusing. (In other words, completely.)
The family went to the store all together. (In a group.)
Have more homophones that confuse you? Send 'em in!
11 comments:
These are good! I think I struggle with the any way/anyway one the most.
I was just going through your site it is extremely well crafted, What i’m searching on the internet trying to find out the correct way to start this blog thing and your website happens to be really high quality.
I've been seeing a lot of peek/peak lately.
When I see the word 'homophone' I start singing the Veggie Tale song in my head: "Homophones, homophones, where the toads are towed out on the plane. Homophones, homophones, I need my kneaded biscuits plain"!
Though you should never, ever knead biscuits! :D
Oh that was fabulous Annette! Dang you're good at this.
Eke/eek and discreet/discrete
haha, I'm singing the same song as Rebecca :)
and you KNOW that peek/peak/pique has been driving me insane lately!
I just love coming here. It's like word heaven. Aaahhhhh.....
Wow! what an idea ! What a concept ! Beautiful .. Amazing
Wish you best luck for the current and next year!There's always room for more thing.
Let's see: I wrote allowed in stead of aloud in an email to the Word Nerd. Then I wrote homonym instead of homophone. Yeah, I wasn't having a good spelling day that day.
Lead is the one I always misuse. I just forget that it's not just like read. Even though I know.
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