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5 More Pairs of Uncommon Confusable Words

posted on November 28, 2018 by Andy Hollandbeck

A Post Boy from 1915

"Commonly confused words" lists exist in excess online, and professional copyeditors make a point of internalizing those common word problems as a matter of professional development. No, what trips us up are the confusable words that are uncommon, like the ten words listed below. Good copyeditors … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Language Usage, Vocabulary Tagged With: Confusables, homophones, Vocabulary

Homonym, Homophone, or Homograph?

posted on October 10, 2018 by Andy Hollandbeck

A man in black and white yelling into a megaphone, with multicolored copies of himself lined up behind him.

As is too often the case, the differences among three concepts — in this case homonyms, homographs, and homophones — seem simple and clear . . . until you try to explain them. Whether it's indicative of a bona fide disagreement among word people or of a historical confusion that is reflected in … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Confusables, homographs, homonyms, homophones, Vocabulary

Confusables: Assure, Ensure, and Insure

posted on October 3, 2018 by Andy Hollandbeck

A blue great dane puppy asleep under a warm brown blanket

Spellcheck probably won't help you choose correctly among assure, ensure, and insure. In fact, because of some overlap in definitions, you might have some problems yourself deciding which word is the right one, especially if you're working with historical texts. According to Etymonline, ensure … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog, Language Usage, Vocabulary Tagged With: Confusables, homophones, language usage, Vocabulary

My Conclusion Is Not Foregone

posted on March 2, 2016 by Andy Hollandbeck

A foregone conclusion.

I often think of proofreaders and copyeditors as one group of people who, above all others, have a mandate to obsess over the minutiae of language. We are the people responsible for understanding and maintaining the sometimes subtle differences in spelling, meaning, and connotation, who not only … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Editing, homophones, Proofreading, Spelling, Usage

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