Menu Toggle
Merriam-Webster Logo
Games & Quizzes
Games & Quizzes
Word of the Day
Grammar
Wordplay
Word Finder
Thesaurus
Join MWU
Shop
Books
Merch
Settings
My Words
Recents
Account
Log Out
More
Thesaurus
Join MWU
Shop
Books
Merch
Log In
Username
My Words
Recents
Account
Log Out
Est. 1828
Grammar & Usage
Primary and Caucus: What is the difference?
Words Commonly Mispronounced
18 words even you might be mispronouncing
Merriam-Webster’s Great Big List of Words You Love to Hate
All your favorite pet peeves
Commonly Confused
Punctuation
Spelling & Pronunciation
Usage Notes
Popular
More Commonly Misspelled Words
Because spelling is tricky
Commonly Misspelled Words
Spelling is hard
How to Use Em Dashes (—), En Dashes (–) , and Hyphens (-)
Be dashing—and do it well
Absent Letters That Are Heard Anyway
They aren't seen but they are heard
How to Use Accents and Diacritical Marks
You know, the markings above and below letters.
On 'Biweekly' and 'Bimonthly'
Sorry, not sorry
A Guide to Using Semicolons
You too can become a semicolon master!
Is it 'home in' or 'hone in'?
Both are used, but 'home in' does a better job of hitting the mark.
Commonly Confused
See All
On Synecdoche and Metonymy
When you are left to your own rhetorical devices.
What's the Difference Between …
Buffalo/bison, college/university, and more
What's the difference between 'sympathy' and 'empathy'?
You don't know how it feels
Famous vs. Infamous
The prefix is not your friend
'A' and 'An' and the Patterns of Their Use
Which gets used where?
See All
Punctuation
See All
The History of 'Ampersand'
How the '&' got its name
All About Ellipses ...
How to use them … and talk about them
Should that word have a hyphen?
On open, closed, and hyphenated compounds
Comma Splices: What They Are and How to Correct Them (or not)
Adventurous writers pull them off regularly
Why do we use apostrophes to show possession?
The shifting role of the apostrophe
See All
Spelling & Pronunciation
See All
How to Pronounce the Trickiest Menu Items
No more order anxiety!
The Many Plurals of 'Octopus'
But which is correct?
Revealing What Rhymes with 'Orange'
It's technical, but it works.
7 Uncommonly Doubled Letters
For word games and other shenanigans
How to Remember the Spelling of 'Definitely'
A definitive answer.
See All
Usage Notes
Usage Notes
8 Grammar Terms You Used to Know, But Forgot
Plus yodeling
Read
Fun, Funner, Funnest
Why does it sound strange to say 'funner' or 'funnest?'
Using Bullet Points ( • )
Read
Is it 'graduated' or 'was graduated from'?
No, this will not be on the test
Read
See All
Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?
The awkward case of 'his or her'