Homonyms, the bane of my (readerly) existence

[barbarienne]

I've seen this one a little too often lately. It's an intersection of homonym and same-spelling-different-words.

Lead = verb, "to show someone the way," is pronounced with a long E, rhyming with "seed"

Led = past tense of above verb, and is pronounced with a short E, rhyming with "bed" <--THIS IS THE ONE YOU WANT, OKAY? THIS ONE

Comments

[kouaidou]

Now explain to them about lose and loose.

[ospreys_view]

Being a chemistry prof., I see this all the time in my students papers. In fact, I've actually put in the instructions I hand out that I will take points off for every misuse of these words. I also do the same for when students use then when they really should use than. What's with that one?

[barbarienne]

Ugh, yes, then/than. For that one, at least, I can imagine that even if you know the correct one to use, it might be difficult to see the error, particularly on a computer screen.