Typos Hurt Your Writing: Bar, Car, Ear, Far, Gar, Jar, Mar, Oar, Par, Tar, War, and Yar

Welcome to this edition of Words For Thought, the blog on wordrefiner.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 a manuscript free of spelling errors. With over 40 years of experience, we have found that typos 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 exposing all of these hidden errors and providing your document free of spelling errors that you want and deserve. I find these invisible spelling errors in 95% of published books.
 
Now, onto today’s episode!
 
Bar has multiple meanings, it can be a solid piece of something for manufacturing such as a bar of steel. It can also mean a place to drink or eat. It can also mean to fasten something shut with special hardware, to keep something or someone out.
Car refers to a vehicle with wheels that carries people or goods. They come in many sizes and shapes. A railroad dining car is different from an automobile. Some think it might be a diminutive or abbreviation of carriage.
Ear is the external part of our body that receives sound. Almost every animal has ears to hear with.
Far has pretty limited usage, it refers to time and distance.
Gar is a freshwater fish found in North America. They are not very pretty.

Jar is a food storage container made of glass or pottery, such as a canning jar or my favorite, a cookie jar.
Mar is to deface the appearance of something or spoil the quality.
Oar is a paddle to propel or steer a boat.
Par has two distinct definitions: the first is the expected number of strokes in golf to complete a particular hole; the second refers to the face value of a stock or other security on financial markets.
Tar is a resinous material that is used for road building and preserving lumber used outdoors.
War is armed conflict, usually resulting when diplomatic efforts have failed.
Yar refers to an agile sailboat, easy to handle.
 
There they are, twelve words with similar sounds and the same last two letters.  If you use the wrong word the reader might feel like they tripped over an invisible string and close the book because it is too hard to figure out the meaning.  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 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 

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