When you have a pair of homophones that have different spellings and meanings, you can sometimes trace these differences back to each word’s origin. (And we won’t even make you rack your brain to think of an example: Look no further than rack vs. wrack.)

But that is not the case with the set of commonly confused, same-sounding words we’re discussing this week: discrete and discreet.

“Discreet” means showing good judgment or unnoticeable, while “discrete” means separate or distinct.

It’s sort of ironic, then, that “discrete” doesn’t even have its own distinct origin. Both words come from the Latin word discretus, which covered each of the definitions of “discreet” and “discrete” that we use today.

So how can you remember which one is which? Merriam-Webster recommends noting the separation of the e’s in “discrete.”

Or you can just ask Stylebot (😉), which has reminders about dozens of commonly confused words and other writing mistakes.

Which one would you like to see us cover next in this newsletter? Hit reply and let us know.

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