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Commonly Confused

Affect vs. Effect

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

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play video affect vs effect
Affect vs. Effect

 

Here's the lowdown on what may be the most confusing pair of words in the English language.

play video its vs its
Its vs. It's

 

Some practical guidance, and interesting history, about a common mistake.

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On Contractions of Multiple Words

 

You all would not have guessed some of these

play video soup vs soop
An Abbreviated History of American English Spelling

 

Soop, wimmen, and headake did not make the cut

play video ghost words
How a Ghost Word Appeared in the Dictionary

 

An imaginary word that snuck into the dictionary

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How a Word Gets into the Dictionary

 

What our editors are looking for when they enter words in Merriam-Webster.

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'All over sudden' vs. 'All of a sudden'

 

Figuring it out at once

Games & Quizzes

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Play Quordle: Guess all four words in a limited number of tries. Each of your guesses must be a real 5-letter word.
Quordle Can you solve 4 words at once?
Play Blossom: Solve today's spelling word game by finding as many words as you can using just 7 letters. Longer words score more points.
Blossom Pick the best words!
Play Missing Letter: a crossword with a twist. Each of the 25 puzzle words start with a different letter of the alphabet. Which letter is missing?
The Missing Letter A daily crossword with a twist
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Words Named After People Quiz Find out who’s behind "leotard," "morphine," an...
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