Typos Hurt Your Writing: Pea, Peag, Peak, Peal, Pear, Peas, and Peat

​Welcome to this edition of Words For Thought, the blog on wordrefiner.weebly.com. Like some of the previous blogs we are looking at typographical errors. Words that look almost the same, but have different spellings and meanings. 
We understand how important it is to have an error free manuscript. With over 40 years of experience, we have found that typos can give many writers problems. Less than perfect typing can create hidden errors. There are many groups of words that vary by only one letter, such as vary and very, or must, mist and most.
The correctly spelled word in the wrong context will not be flagged by most spell-checkers. The Hyper-speller at Word Refiner is dedicated to uprooting all of these hidden errors and providing your document free of spelling errors that you want and deserve.
 
Now, onto today’s episode!
 
Did you hear the story about the Princess and the Pea? Well, this is not that story. This is about a group of words that all depend on Pea for existence. Pea is a vegetable that grows in a pod on a vine or bush. A lot of people like them as a side dish or split pea soup.
Peag is also known as wampum, it is made of small beads or shells and was used as currency by North American Natives.
Peak is the top of a mountain, or a hat. It can also be the greatest point in a series of measurements.
Peal, now that is a ringer! The primary definition is a loud ringing of bells, or thunder which can be very loud also. Tintinnabulation is my favorite synonym of Peal. Heck, tintinnabulation is one of my favorite words just for the sound of it.
Pear is a wonderful fruit. They come in many varieties, some sweet and some tart. A ripe and juicy Pear is quite wonderful to eat.
Peas are more than one Pea. Do not eat your Peas with a knife, my mom said to me. I loved a challenge, and I ate all my peas, what a sneaky mom!
Peat is widely known to gardeners as a medium for plant starts and a soil amendment. It has been harvested from bogs, a wet marshy area, for many years. It can also be used as a fuel for fire when dried.
 
There they are, seven words with similar sounds and the same first three letters.  If you use the wrong word the reader might think they hit a submerged log while boating in the bayou and lose the momentum you worked so hard to build.  Do all in your power to prevent that from happening, do not give your reader a reason to close your book. Use beta readers, critique partners, proofreaders and editors to ensure that your work is error free and as smooth as possible.
 
Thanks for stopping by, we hope you enjoyed this issue of Typos Hurt Your Writing on Words For Thought.  Follow us on twitter: @wordrefiner; for more alerts about hazardous homophones and terrible typos search for #HomophonesHurtYourWriting or #TyposHurtYourWriting on twitter.
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Remember: Words Have Meaning and Spelling Makes a Difference. 
​Copyright © 2016 Mark L Schultz