Homophones: Accept and Except

The English language is fraught with sound-alike words that look nothing alike on the page, or the screen. These homophones have given many students headaches as they agonize over word choice while composing essays and even short stories.

Accept and except are two such words. Though not among the most commonly confused homophones, these two words do occasionally find themselves getting mixed up and used incorrectly.

Here’s a quick way to remember the difference between accept and except.

Accept

Accept means to take or receive, agree or consent, undertake responsibility, or reconcile oneself to something. In a sense, it means to acknowledge. You can’t really accept something without acknowledging it, except in some very far out circumstances. Since both words start with ac, it should be easy to remember whether accept belongs in your sentence.

I accept your proposal.

I except your proposal.

Is the proposal acknowledged? Then choose accept.

Except

You know what’s special? The letter x. It’s special because it’s so rarely used. Wouldn’t you agree? We could almost say that the letter x is an exceptional letter. Remember this letter and these words together: x, exceptional, except. Because except always indicates something that is special, or different from the others. It means with the exclusion of, with exception, or otherwise. It marks something unique.

Everyone accept me had read the book.

Everyone except me had read the book.

Does this sentence indicate something or someone that is unique, like one person who didn’t do something that everyone else did? Mark it with an x and use except.

Accept and Except, and Other Homophones

What other homophones can you come up with besides accept and except? Are there any that you find especially perplexing? Share them in the comments!