Tuesday Tricksters: Naught -- Offal

Well, here we are, once again realizing how terribly easy it is to write one word when we meant another, and trust spellcheck to alert us … when that’s not its job. It can check spelling; it cannot check usage.

So to remind us of the difficulty of using homophones (words that sound alike — or nearly so, anyway — but are spelled differently and have a different meaning), I give you these five groups of words to (re)learn.

Naught (pron.): nonexistence; nothing “It was all for naught.” (n.): the figure 0; a cipher; a zero.

Not (adv.): a word used with a verb to make a negative “She was not happy.”

Knot (n.): the looping and tying of a piece of string, ribbon, or rope; the place where a tree limb joins the trunk (v.): to securely tie a rope, string, ribbon, etc.

None (adv.): not at all “She pushed him none too gently against the wall.” (pron.): not one or any “None of it was fit to eat. None of them were ready to eat.”

Nun (n.): a female of a religious order

Oar (n.): a paddle with a long handle and a flat blade used to row or steer a boat

Or (conj.) a word used to introduce a second alternate idea “Let’s all eat an apple or some other fruit every day.”

Ore (n.) a combination of minerals from which metal or sulfur can be removed

Ode (n.): a poem that you sing or a poem honoring a specific person or subject that is written in a clear lyrical style

Owed (v.): simple past tense and past participle of owe “She is owed the truth.”

Offal (n.): waste parts; especially the entrails, etc., of a butchered animal

Awful (adj.): terrible

NOTE: (adj.=adjective; adv.=adverb; conj.=conjunction; n.=noun; pron=pronoun; v.=verb)

And there (their, they’re) you (ewe) have (halve) it, friends — five more (moor) pairs (pears) of words that can be (bee) miswritten if we’re (weir) not (naught, knot) paying strict attention.

Were any of these new to you? I had to look up naught to be sure of its usage.

Are there any words that are confusing for you? Let me know, and I’ll feature them in an upcoming Tuesday Tricksters or Wednesday Words article. 

And if this post helped you, please share it so others may learn as well. 

For even more help, check out YourDictionary.com, where you’ll find definitions of words from several dictionaries all in one spot. 

My goal here is to help you look and sound as smart as you are.

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