Aid and Aide both refer to help; however, only aide refers specifically to a professional helper. Let’s look more closely at each word. AidAid, as a noun, can refer to any kind of help. It can also be used as a verb: We could use your aid on this project. (Noun)Your contribution aided the completion of […]

Phonics and Phonetics are both nouns based on the root phon- which means “sound.”Phonics is a system for teaching people how to read languages that use alphabets, focusing on the sounds associated with each group of letters. Phonetics is the science of describing linguistic sounds accurately, using special symbols and terminology. For example, in phonetics, […]

To avoid confusing these words, remember this starting point:  dialectic is a kind of rhetoric.RhetoricRhetoric, generally, means “ways of making an argument, presenting ideas, or persuading people”. The following sentences exemplify this meaning:Your rhetoric does not make sense to me, so I do not agree.The rhetoric of politicians often seems dishonest.Attacking your opponent is bad […]

These are complex words. Sole has two unrelated meanings. And soul, while it has one main meaning, is rich and subtle with ideas specific to Western culture. Sole can be a noun meaning “the under-surface of a foot” or “the inside bottom of a shoe (or other footwear)” or an adjective meaning “only” or “alone”:             I […]

These words have the same sound, but are unrelated. We begin with bare, because it has only few definitions, while bear has many.Bare – Meaning and Sentence Examples Bare can be an adjective meaning ‘naked – without usual coverings, decorations, or other unnecessary components’ or a verb meaning ‘to uncover, reveal, or show something otherwise hidden’:The […]