Fishes vs. Fish

Are you unsure whether the plural of fish is fishes or just fish? The correct answer is fish. Here, we have a majority of cases to use fish in different ways.

Bingeing vs. Binging

When a verb ends in a silent E, you would typically drop the E when turning it into a present participle or gerund. There are, however, exceptions to the rule. As for the verb binge, both binging and bingeing are acceptable.

Madam vs. Madame

Madam is a formal way of addressing older women in English-speaking countries. Madame is a title or way of politely addressing married French women.

Conversate vs. Converse

Would you like to conversate with me? Or converse with me? Between conversate and converse, which is the correct spelling? The answer is converse, which is the only correct spelling among the two.

Lyes vs. Lies

Lyes is the plural form of lye. Lies is either the singular verb form of the verb lie or the plural noun of the noun lie. The easy way to know whether to use lye or lie is if the word is being used to mean a strong alkaline solution, then use lye. If not, use lie.

In route vs. En route

Is the correct phrase "in route" or "en route"? "En route" is the only correct answer. "In route" is simply a misspelling of "en route". "On route" is another common misspelling because the pronunciation of "en route" sounds more like "on route".

Laid out vs. Layed out

"Laid out?" Or is it "layed out?" What about "lain out?" The past tense of lay is laid, but because for many verbs, you simply have to add an -ed at the end to make it past tense, people mistakenly think that layed is the past tense of lay.

Threw vs. Through

Although threw and through have the same pronunciation, they are two completely different words with difference meanings. Threw is the past tense of the verb throw. Meanwhile through is can be used as a preposition, adverb, and adjective.

This vs. That

What’s the difference between this and that? The simple answer is that this refers to something relatively closer to the speaker while that refers to something relatively farther from the speaker.