From the course: Editing and Proofreading Made Simple

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Usage mistakes

Usage mistakes

- Spelling errors happen. Fortunately, spellcheckers catch them. However, a spellchecker is of no use when you've spelled a word right, but you're using it wrong. The most frequent reason for this? Homonyms. A homonym is a pair, or set, of words that are all pronounced the same but spelled differently to mean different things. You might already know the usual suspects: there, where, its, your. But here's an abbreviated list of troublemakers. You can check the exercise file for a more comprehensive list with the definitions to help you sort through these words and select the correct spelling and meaning. Let's talk about "peek". You take a peek. You climb a peak. Something piques your interest. Remember the pair of E's, like peeking eyes around a corner. For peak, there's a mountain in the letter A. And my interest is piqued by the Q in pique. These tend to trip you up when you're in a hurry or tired. Whenever you use one of these words, make sure it's the right version. Always give…

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