Mistrust and Distrust have essentially the same meaning: “to have a lack of confidence or faith in someone or something.”  Sometimes, however, distrust may sound stronger than mistrust—mistrust can mean “partial distrust,” which may be based on a gut feeling, while distrust may be based more on a evidence and a justified belief about someone’s or something’s […]

These two words, Lightning and Lightening, have very different meanings!  Lightning is a noun or adjective for the powerful flash of electricity that happens during some rainstorms and thunderstorms: A flash of lightning lit up the darkness of the storm. As an adjective, lightning means “very fast and brief”: The kung-fu master had a lightning fast […]

Addition is the act or process of adding—adding numbers, increasing quantities, or creating or putting a new thing somewhere; or addition can refer to the thing that is added: Addition was the first mathematical operation we learned.With the addition of more rain tomorrow, we may flood.The addition to the house was very expensive. Additionally, you […]

Although ideal is a form of idea, their meanings are a bit different. Because, in casual speech, idea means “thought or concept” while ideal means “perfect or best.”These words have long histories. Idea comes from an ancient Greek word, eidos, meaning “image” as well as “idea” and is related to the Greek philosopher Plato’s famous […]

The words peek and peak have the same sound but different meanings. Peek (verb or noun) means to “look (at something) briefly or furtively (in a sneaky way).” Peak (noun, verb, or adjective) means, “(to reach) the pointy top of something such as a mountain or hat.”Let’s start with Peek, can be used in a variety of […]