SPELLING
1. Advice/Advise
* guidance; guide somebody about the course of action.
Advice is a noun – My advice to you is to be careful.
Advise is a verb – I advise you to be careful.
2. Accept/Except
* accept means to take; to include
* except means to leave something
Accept is a verb – Tim accepted my request.
Except is a verb and preposition – Children under five are excepted from the survey.
Everyone except Roy was laughing.
3. Affect/Effect
* affect means to bring a change; to influence.
* effect means result; consequence
Affect is a verb – Yesterday’s storm has affected the garden plants.
Effect is a noun – Yesterday’s storm has no effect on trees.
4. Breath/Breathe
Breath is a noun – He took a deep breath of fresh air.
Breathe is a verb – You should breathe the fresh air.
5. Born/Borne
* born means birth
* borne means to carry.
Born is a noun – Tim was born in December.
Borne is the past participle of verb bear – Tim has borne all his problems with a smile on his face.
6. Complement/Compliment
* Supplement means two different things that work or look better together.
* Compliment means praise.
Both can be used as noun and verb – Her dress complements her beauty.
She received compliments for her dress.
7. Defuse/Diffuse
* defuse means to remove the fuse from an explosive (bomb); to make less tense.
* diffuse means spread over a vast area.
Both are verbs – Security team defused the bomb easily.
Sunlight diffused through the trees.
8. Desert/Dessert
* A desert is a immense area covered with sand.
* Decent is a sweet dish taken after a meal.
Both are nouns – Sahara is a largest desert in the world.
We ate ice-cream in the dessert.
9. Envelop/Envelope
* envelop means to cover; to wrap
* envelope is letter cover.
Envelop is a verb – Dense fog enveloped the whole area.
Envelope is a noun – She put the letter in yellow envelope and sealed it.
10. Stationary/Stationery
* Stationary means unmoving; steady
* Stationery means writing material (diaries, notebooks, pens, pencials, etc)
Stationary is an adjective – Planets revolve around the stationary sun.
Stationery is a noun – I am going to a stationery shop.