There are many words out there which sound almost exactly the same, particularly in New Zealand where we are extremely lazy about differentiating vowel sounds - so “bear”, “beer” and “bare” become one mangled utterance. Of the many homophone (or almost-homophone) pairs or trios, there are a few which tend to be confused for each other on the regular.
These are there stories.
You’re and your
I didn’t really want to include this one, because it has been done to death. You’re means you are. Your is a possessive pronoun, which could be replaced with “my” or “his” or “her” or “our” and make sense. It indicates something belonging to you.
Edition and addition
Recently I have seen a lot of headings or sentences saying something like “cocktail hour: beach addition” or “crazy cat lady: writer addition”. The writers of these titles were thinking of “edition”, a noun meaning something like “one of a series”. “Addition” is another noun which refers to the act or process of adding. So, an addition to the blog might be another edition of Homophones Gone Wild, if I come across more mix ups.
Technically, these two words are not really homophones, but in New Zealand English they are certainly close enough.
Peek and peak and pique
Have you ever read about a particular topic peaking someone’s interest? Or someone taking a peak at something? “Peak” seems to be the default spelling for these three words, but it either refers to the top of a mountain or other lofty object, physically or metaphorically, or is used as a verb which basically means to attain a peak. Peaking your interest does make sense, but the correct word is in fact “pique”, meaning to irritate, to wound, to excite or provoke. “Peek”, of course, means to take a cheeky look at someone or something. In their most commonly used phrases, then, they are arranged thus:
Pique your interest.
Take a sneak peek.
Reach the peak.
We did reach this peak; it took a fair amount of effort.
Effect and affect
I’m really not doing well on the true homophone front here, as this pair of words also have different vowel sounds at the front which become an indistinguishable “eh” when spoken by Kiwis. However, they are very commonly mistaken for each other, and I have had plenty of messages in my time from colleagues asking which to use in particular contexts.
The answer gets confusing, because while one of them is primarily a noun (effect) and the other is primarily a verb (affect), each has an alternate meaning as the other part of speech. “Effect” is generally something that is produced by a cause - “Hypothermia is a common effect of being exposed to cold” - but can also be a verb which refers to the production of that effect, the most common usage of this being “to effect a change”.
“Affect” is most commonly used as a verb meaning to act upon, or produce a change or affect in something - “the amount of salt in a dish greatly affects the way it tastes” - but is also used as a noun describing an expressed emotional response. You might refer to someone as having a “flat affect” if they appear unemotional, but this usage of the word is mostly reserved for psychiatry.
To summarise: in at least 95% of cases, if not more, “effect” is a noun and “affect” is a verb. I recommend you not worry about the others unless very necessary.
Accept and except
These two are commonly switched around. “Accept” (a verb) means to consent to receive or understand something, for example: “I accepted the award with gratitude” or “She had to accept that surfing was not a possibility”. ”Except” (a preposition or conjunction) is most commonly used as a way to exclude something from a list or situation: “We were all at the beach, except John”.
Perhaps the best way to distinguish these two is to ask yourself “Is it a verb?” If it’s A verb, the right word is Accept. I realise that’s a bit of a stretch.
So there you have it, a few of the most commonly mixed up words which may or may not be homophones, depending whether or not you live in the antipodes like I do. In the next edition, I hope to pique your interest (and I accept that grammar is not the most interesting topic for most people) with a few more words which are commonly mixed up, but are even further removed from being homophones. Suggestions so far have included moral/morale, woman/women, mute/moot, then/than and lie/lay.
(Yes, the error in the title was intentional.)