Sunday, January 25, 2015

Grimaced & Grimmest

Grimaced – (v.) past tense of Grimace, an expression of displeasure.
Grimmest – (adj.) the most grim.
So, yes, maybe I grimaced because I was the grimmest.

Sunday, January 18, 2015

Breach & Breech

With an A – (v.) break through from one area into another.
With an E – (n.) hind section of an object or animal.

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Berth & Birth

With an E – a sort of smallish sleeping space, or other designated area such as for docking boats.
With an I – a sort of smallish person undocking from its mother.

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Scoot & Scute

-oot – (v.) a little bit sliding, a little bit shuffling, just kinda nudgin' along, y'know?
-ute – (n.) a bony plate such as the ones that cover a turtle's or armadillo's shell.
Speaking of which, whaddaya think of that cute little turtle? 'Scute, isn't it? :)

Sunday, December 28, 2014

Frees, Freeze, Frieze

Frees – third person present verb form of Free.
Freeze – lose enough heat to turn from a liquid into a solid.
Frieze – a wide, architectural and/or decorative band that runs horizontally along a wall beneath the ceiling or roof.
If cold weather causes your paint to peel, then you might say a freeze frees the paint from your frieze. I mean, you MIGHT say that...

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Taro & Tarot

Without a T at the end – tropical plant whose edible root has a surprisingly high nutritive value.
With a T at the end – prophetic playing card with no substantive value at all.

Sunday, December 14, 2014

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Deference & Difference

As in, "These aren't exactly homophones, but they're very similar and easily confused. So show a little respect and be sure you can tell them apart." :)












And, please remember, they are not to be confused with:

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Forth & Fourth

As in, "After the first three butterflies emerged, the fourth came forth."

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Straight & Strait

Which direction did the boat sail between two outcroppings of land?
Strait.
Ba-dum-bum.

Sunday, November 16, 2014

Gnu, Knew, New

This one goes out to Yvonne Treis, who emailed me recently to suggest it (possibly because she knows I like doing the animal ones best). In other words, she asked for this new post because she knew I'd want to draw the gnu.

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Vain, Vane, Vein

Oh, man, I can't think of a sentence that uses all three of these in an interesting way. You?

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Penance & Pennants

As in, "I feel guilty for even knowing that the World Series is on right now."

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Rappel & Repel

With an A and two Ps – a method of descending a vertical surface.
With an E – push apart.

Sunday, September 28, 2014

Lead & Led

With an A – a heavy metal, atomic number 82.
Without an A – past tense of, well, Lead. Oh, sheesh, that's confusing. "Lead/Lead" would be a good candidate for Homographs, Weakly, if I decided to branch out a bit.












And speaking of heavy metal:

Sunday, September 21, 2014

Cornet & Coronet

Keep calm and scabba-dabba-doo-bop. I think Louis Armstrong said that.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Tighten & Titan



And for those who like their Titans a little more astronomical, and a lot more Proper Noun: