Tuesday Tip #12: Tackling Homonyms

Another trick of the English language! Following last week’s #tuesdaytips on common misused words, we thought it was important to discuss homonyms. A homonym is a word that is spelled or sounds similarly to another word (think: their, they’re, or there and you’re vs. your).

The example we used on our Instagram today tackles another set of words frequently misused: pass time, past time, and pastime. So how do you keep homonyms straight? We wish there was a memory trick to share, but it comes down to knowing the different spellings and definitions of each word.

For instance, pass time is something you spend time doing—like mowing the lawn—while pastime is a regular activity or hobby engaged in—like reading or playing basketball. The odd one out? Past time, which means past due.

Misused words are one of the biggest issues we notice in our client’s content. Since these words aren’t misspelled, Word or Pages won’t catch the error. If you have downloaded a tool like Grammarly, you are less likely to have such mishaps show up in final drafts. However, we believe hiring a proofreader is the best fail safe for clean content that’ll make your company shine!