Susan 馃悵 Rooks, The Grammar Goddess

7 years ago 路 2 min. reading time 路 ~10 路

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Tuesday Tricksters, Leak -- Leased

Tuesday Tricksters, Leak -- Leased

SEW / 50 7 SOW die dye worst / wurst = a

their / there / they’r 2 : - =

air / err / heir quince / quints 2 2

flew / flu / flue breath / breathe / breadth 3
sound alike

homophones

ferent spel oar [ore / or
have di different ee chute / shoot

_, counsel / council
cents / sense 00% its / it's :
ot! Gn genes / jeans
team / teem 914 7 gilled / gui soled / sold
assistance / assistants your / youre clause / claws

sent / scent

It's Tuesday, so here's another edition of Tricksters, those words that sound alike (or nearly so, anyway) and can make us writers look bad when we misuse them. Spellcheck will never help here; the words are spelled correctly, but used incorrectly.


Leak (n.): a breach that allows something to escape; (v.): to allow the escape, entry, or passage of something through a breach or flaw

Leek (n.): an edible plant聽related to the onion, with a white, slender bulb and flat, dark-green leaves


Lean (v.): to incline, bend, or rest on or against; to rely on for support; to have a preference for; (n.): without much fat

Lien (n.): a legal term for a claim on property as security to make sure someone repays money they鈥檝e borrowed.


Lear (n.): the king's name in Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear; the name of a well-known jet

Leer (n.): a sly, sidelong look showing salaciousness, malicious triumph, etc.; (v.): to look at someone with sly or malicious intent


Leas (n.): meadows

Lease (v.): to rent property to someone legally; (n.): a legal rental agreement


Leased (v.): past tense of to lease

Least (adj.): smallest or slightest in size, degree, importance, etc. (that's the least of our worries); (adv.): used for forming superlatives of adjectives, especially those that do not form the superlative by adding聽-est. (the least surprising thing); in the smallest or lowest degree (to reward those who least deserve it)


Are any of these new to you?聽 For once I had a pretty good idea of what each word meant, although I still looked them up to be sure.

And for more definitions of these and other words, check out聽www.yourdictionary.com, which contains definitions from four or five dictionaries, so you can find ones that make sense to you.

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Share it, so your connections can see it and perhaps learn too. Let us know what you liked best or learned; that will also help you be seen by my connections. You never know who would be interested in聽YOU.聽

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My previous posts can be seen here,聽and they're easy to find because they're categorized. Just type in a word in the search box on the topic you're looking for and see everything I wrote on it.聽

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American Grammar
Skills

 

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Comments

John Rylance

7 years ago #3

Perhaps Susan, in the cases of misuse it's "least said soonest mended".

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #2

#2
As one who was educated in the land where moths are bred in wallets, Franci, I suspect that everything has its price?

Ken Boddie

7 years ago #1

A leaking pipe in lean times is the least of your problems when you're leasing. Just leer at the landlord, take a leaf out of my book, and leave it to him. If he's on the level, he'll stick a leek in it. But don't leave off paying the rent or he'll lift your furniture as a lien. 馃

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