play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Commonly Confused

Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

How to remember which is which


Editor Serenity Carr breaks down hanger vs. hangar with a simple trick to keep them apart.

Transcript

Hanger. There's the one for clothes and the one for airplanes. They sound the same but are spelled differently. One ends in er, the other ends in ar. So how do you remember which is which? The airplane hangar ends in ar, which is one letter short of air.

Up next

play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

 

How to remember which is which

play video literally
Literally

 

A word that (literally) drives people nuts

play mrs malaprop
What is a malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars

play videos pictures in the dictionary
Pictures in the Dictionary

 

The story of those iconic illustrations.

play further vs farther video
Further vs. Farther

 

They started as same word, but their meanings have drifted apart over time.

play hot mess
Hot Mess

 

Our research turned up two archaic literal meanings

play ismo merriam webster tip
Some Odd Words with ISMO: "People Tipping"

 

Comedian ISMO on the complexities of the word 'tip'