Homophones Hurt Your Writing: Rite, Write, Right, and Wright

Welcome to this edition of Words For Thought, the blog on wordrefiner.com. Like many of the previous blogs we are looking at homophones. Words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. 
I understand how important it is to have an error free manuscript. With over 40 years of experience, I have found that homophones give almost every writer fits and difficulties. Because we sound words out in our mind, it is easy to write the wrong word.
Let’s not forget typographical errors also, a slip of the finger on the keyboard can create a different word that may not be caught by a spell-checker. There are many groups of words that vary by only one letter, such as must, mist and most. These three words have vowels that are beside each other on the keyboard.
The correctly spelled word in the wrong context will not be flagged by most spell-checkers. Word Refiner is dedicated to uprooting all of these hidden errors and providing your document free of spelling errors that you want and deserve. I find invisible spelling errors in 95% of published books.

Now, onto today’s episode! Number seven in the series about quadruple homophones. High score!
Rite is a word that has been with us for hundreds of years. Rite started in Latin and came through Middle English before arriving here. It is a synonym or a truncation of the word ritual. It can mean a ceremony that is religious or social in nature. Saluting the flag and saying the pledge of allegiance is one example of a social rite or ritual.
Write is a word many of us are deeply familiar with. Many make a living by writing and many more want to. With a Germanic and Old English background; the most basic definition of “to write” means to put down marks, such as letters, words, or symbols on paper, with an instrument such as a pen or pencil.
We can write a letter or a book, a check or a song, a manual or a play. We can also underwrite an insurance policy. We can also cause a computer to write data in a specific location. This word has many different uses, unlike the previous word.
Right is a powerhouse word! It has traveled to us from Germanic roots, Old English and Latin. A very long-lived and widely used word for many centuries. It can function as a, noun, verb, adverb, adjective, an exclamation and filler word. It can mean correct, proper, justified, right hand or side, political, and in British English it can mean complete or absolute. It can be the opposite of wrong. It can also mean very, immediately, giving directions as in turn right at the bank. It can mean to repair, rectify or provide reparations. It can be used to show agreement or invite agreement, and it can be a filler word in conversation.
Wright comes to us from English and Old English. Its usage has increased steadily in the last couple of centuries. This word has a specific meaning, a maker or builder. It brings to mind someone who is a master of their craft. We use this word frequently in the theater world when we talk about a playwright. We also use this word in the construction trades, a person may be a millwright or a woodwright. There is a long running show on PBS, The Woodwright’s Shop. A millwright uses milling machines and lathes to shape metal.
There they are, four words with identical sounds.  If you use the wrong word the reader might think they hit an unseen bump while reading and lose the reading momentum you worked so hard to build.  Use every tool available to prevent that from happening, do not give your readers a reason to close your story. Use beta readers, critique partners, proofreaders, such as myself, and editors to ensure that your work is error free and as smooth as possible. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed this issue of Homophones Hurt Your Writing on Words For Thought.  Follow me on twitter: @wordrefiner, for more alerts about hazardous homophones search for #HomophonesHurtYourWriting or #TyposHurtYourWriting on Twitter.
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Remember: Words Have Meaning and Spelling Makes a Difference.
​Copyright © 2018 Mark L Schultz  
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