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Dec 21

She stuck a leek in the hole to stop the leak

Posted on Monday, December 21, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

leak, leek
leak means water is escaping through a hole
leek means a vegetable like an onion

lean, lien
lean means muscle with very little fat
lien means a legal claim

leased, least
leased means rental for an agreed upon number of months
least means the smallest amount of something

Dec 20

Being tired, he lay down after receiving a lei

Posted on Sunday, December 20, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

lain, lane
lain means situated
lane means a division of a roadway

lay, lei
lay means to place something down
lei means a garland of flowers in Hawaii

leach, leech
leach means to remove a soluble matter from something
leech means a blood-sucker

Dec 19

Don’t you know what “no” means?

Posted on Saturday, December 19, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

know, no
know means to have knowledge of something
no means a negative response to a question

knows, nose
knows means that someone has knowledge of something
nose means a prominent facial feature between the eyes

laid, lade
laid means the past tense of lay
lade means to weigh down

Dec 18

I won’t send a knight out on a night like this

Posted on Friday, December 18, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

knight, night
knight means a warrior
night means the dark time of a day

knit, nit
knit means to turn thread into fabric
nit means the egg of a louse

knot, not
knot means looping string to join it to another string
not is used to negate the meaning in a sentence

Dec 17

Their son smeared jam on the door jamb

Posted on Thursday, December 17, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

jam, jamb
jam means jelly
jamb means the sides of a door frame

knap, nap
knap means to form a sharp edge in flint
nap means a short time of sleep

knead, kneed, need
knead means to work with dough
kneed means having a specific type of knee
need means to require

Dec 16

She had insight into his plan to incite them

Posted on Wednesday, December 16, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

insight, incite
insight means discernment
incite means to stir up or excite

instance, instants
instance means an occurrence
instants means moments

intense, intents
intense means extreme in degree
intents means purposes of things intended

Dec 15

Do not subject yourself to being flagged as spam

Posted on Tuesday, December 15, 2009 in Email tips

When you send an email, always include a subject.
Not doing so can cause a spam filter to consider your email spam.
Including a subject also helps the recipient organize their emails.

For more email ettiquette tips, I recommend 101 Email Etiquette Tips. Please pay special attention to #15, 40 & 90.

Dec 14

Try to elicit information on his illicit behavior

Posted on Monday, December 14, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

idle, idol, idyll
idle means doing nothing
idol means a graven image believed to convey spiritual power
idyll means a short pastoral poem

illicit, elicit
illicit means breaking social norms
elicit means to draw out information

in, inn
in means the opposite of out
inn means a place for lodging

Dec 13

This is our hour

Posted on Sunday, December 13, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

holey, holy, wholly
holey means it has holes
holy means set apart
wholly means completely

hostel, hostile
hostel means a place of lodging
hostile means antagonistic

hour, our
hour means 60 minutes
our means it belongs to us

Dec 12

A gardener needs a hose and hoes

Posted on Saturday, December 12, 2009 in Homonyms/Homophones, Incorrect word usage

hoes, hose
hoes means implements to scratch the ground around plants
hose means a flexible tube to carry water

hold, holed
hold means to retain a grip on something
holed means the past tense of hole

hole, whole
hole means a cavity in a surface
whole means complete