Thanks John! Those are both great tricks.

Thanks very much for your comment, Desiree. I think you can pat yourself on the back for even spotting the difference between the two spellings! A more common problem is to see two words that look very similar (such as ‘complement’ and ‘compliment’ or ‘desert’ and ‘dessert’) and assume they’re the same word. This can lead to some wonderfully bizarre sentences.

We trudged for hours through the baking hot dessert

Some people like coffee after dinner, but I prefer desert.

English is full of these annoyingly similar words that are just waiting to trip you up. I still occasionally come across a pair I didn’t know, and I’ve been an editor for years!

For some bedtime reading, here’s Oxford Dictionaries list of commonly confused words.

I always thought – even after earning an English degree – that the words “offence” and “offense” had different meanings/uses. Imagine my surprise upon looking them up recently that the only difference, apart from the obvious, is their geographical usage! I thought I remembered memorizing different applications for these words at school, and then whilst studying at university. Am I suffering from hypergrammaticism (Haha), or perhaps early-onset dementia? How does everyone else on the forum spell this word? Apparently here in New Zealand it’s with a ‘C’, as opposed to the American ‘S’. Here I was, thinking ‘they’ were two words with different meanings all along.

Desiree

Thanks Peter. That’s a great trick too… as long as you can remember what a noun is and what a verb is! Perfect for the grammar geeks among us.

You are most welcome. And yes, the same rules do apply for ‘license’ and ‘licence’ in UK English. Good spotting!

For anyone using American spelling, the only spelling you need is ‘license’ (not the same as for ‘practice’). Confusing!

No doubt it would be easier if we all just learnt Esperanto.