This week, I’m revisiting an issue I covered a while back. I’m mentioning it again because it seems to come up more often than you would think.
As most of us know, spell check can’t read minds. We’ve probably all ran into situations where we’ve butchered the spelling of a word and spell check has suggested a word that is not the word you mean to include. If you are tired or distracted enough, you might just accept the suggestion and move on. There isn’t much you can do about this when it happens other than catching it on a later read through or hoping your editor catches such glitches.
This post is not about that sort of spell check issue, but a much more insidious creature. I give you the bane of spell checkers everywhere … the homonym. Actually, to be more technically accurate, what we’re really talking about are homophones, but they’re are often referred to as homonyms. Confused yet? No worries. Let’s get down to it.
Here’s a quick overview.
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings: sew, so, sow for, fore, four
Homographs are words that are spelled the same but have different pronunciations: bow (archery), bow (forward part of a ship)
Finally, homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation AND the same spelling but have different meanings: bat or can
The most common problem that I see associated with these words shows up in the form of homophones, and one of the most common ones that I see is heal vs. heel.
There you are just typing along, and before you know it, your character is walking into a room in a pair of stiletto high heals. Whoops!
And of course, spell check will glide right by this one without so much as a backward glance. As I mentioned above, there’s really not much that can be done about this other than more pairs of eyes and an editor.
The truth is that these things are just going to happen sometimes. I guess the purpose of this post is that of a little consciousness raising. Hopefully, if there is a little voice in the back of your head, it will be slightly less likely to happen.
How about you, WG2E peeps? Can you relate? Do you have any stories?
I can’t think of any stories off-hand, but I can definitely relate.
Hi, Nancy.
Can’t we all?
I too can relate. Don’t have any stories, but have caught things on a second read through – the one I do AFTER using spell check. . .
Sounds like a good way to approach it, Jamie.
The sun’s raise; warm sunny beech; pouring over the file; laid on the alter; just to name a few I found with Ginger software – so chagrined these were in books I’ve published! Getting the last book gingered today!
I also called them homonyms instead of homophones – thanks for the info!
Not to fear, dear. You were correct. Homonym is the family name for the phones and the graphs. (smiles)
Quite right. Quite right.
Nancy, I have the rest covered, but am sure I would have been ‘pouring’ over those files.
Thanks for the heads-up.
I see the heel/heal all the time. Thanks for the explanation on the names and definitions.
Hi, Stephanie!
Yep. That one is probably the most common one that I see.
My favorite one to swap while typing away is wretch instead of retch. Week/weak can also catch me at times. Thankfully, I know those are issues so I’ve customized Smart Edit to check for them. I’m sure as I fix those more will sneak up on me. *G*
Oh, that’s a good one.
I have problems all the time with trail/trial. Writing about mobsters, I almost always mean trial, but trail shows up too many times. So before I sent my book to an editor, I do a “seach all” and” replace” – trail with trial.
Now if the cops are on the trail of someone – I’m screwed.
Hi, Joe.
Trail/trial is a common one too. Good catch!
My bane is ‘though”, thought, and through. Also a plain capital “I” when I meant “In” or “Is”.
Yep, Doug.
Those can throw you for a loop, especially when typing along at a fast clip.
I can so relate. I nailed a half-dozen of those yesterday.
I seem to always catch my cp with ‘to and too.’ Also, ‘lose’ and ‘loose’ and ‘past’ and ‘passed.’ Sigh. So much to trip us up. Good article.
One of my big bete noires is:
PHASE vs. FAZE
It’s astonishing how many so-called literate writers confuse the former with the latter, as in “that doesn’t phase me at all”.
Grrrrr…
I don’t think I’ve even see the word “faze.” I’ve used it in conversation, but I never thought about how it was spelled. I guess I’ll have to look out for that one!
Wow, James.
That’s a really good one. Gold star!
reign vs. rein
Thank you. I had written a paragraph this morning and had the term “free rein”, but with the other one. I thought at the time, somethings wrong with that, but forgot to go back to check after I finished the entire paragraph. The spell checker would never have caught that one. Thank you.
Nice!
A reader notified me that my hero had a taught stomach instead of taut. 4 times! LOL It has since been corrected.
Hi, Stacey!
We could all use great readers like that.
Peak vs. peek is another. And I feel total despair over “advise/advice”. With an “s” it’s a verb. With a “c” it’s a noun. But nobody seems to know that anymore–or care. I suppose I have to let it go…
Really, I know, I care. I get confuzzled when I’m reading merrily along and a lawyer gives “advise” to their client or tries to “advice” them. It’s a full stop and my brain hurts. Thank you for caring.
Hi, SK!
I picked up on your “confuzzled.” It’s always good to find another Mary and Max fan out there. One of my favorites.
I know it too! Keep on top of this one.
Not in a book – but as a radio journalist I sent through a sports-preview script for the presenter which said a game’s ‘lick-off’ was at 2pm in stead of ‘kick-off’. The presenter had an enormous attack of giggles!
Celebration hosts the annual American Pie Festival each year. I suppose, it could be correctly used in that situation.
Ha! That’s awesome!
The one that I still can’t figure out is lay vs. lie vs. laid. I keep checking grammar references, but I don’t know if I use them correctly or not. I guess I’ll lie down and think about this. Or, perhaps, I’ll lay myself down for a while . . .
Hi, Gail.
I think I feel a post coming on about that one.
Please! That’s the one I can’t ever decide on – a post will be most welcome.
I found one of my characters ‘peaking’ yesterday, instead of ‘peeking’ – oops!
But for me, the one I find most often in published books that drives me nuts is ‘reign’ instead of ‘rein’.
You can rein somebody in – a queen reigns.
As a professional horse rider, the use of reins is on my mind much of the time…
weather, whether, wether