Hello everyone!

It’s time for another tricky word pair! Today’s words are weather and whether, which have different meanings and spellings but the same pronunciation…which is what makes them prone to confusion.

Weather in its noun form refers to atmospheric conditions and in its verb form refers to soldiering through something difficult (e.g., “weathering the storm”). Whether is usually used as a conjunction to indicate an either/or situation (e.g., “whether or not”).

So how can you keep them straight? As with many of the word pairs I’ve discussed, there’s not a perfect trick. But weather has an a in it, like atmosphere, while whether ends in ther, like either. If you can remember that one involves the atmosphere and one involves an either/or situation, the spelling correspondences might just be enough to remind you that The weather today is predicted to be rainy, She weathered the pain of her divorce as well as could be expected, and He was going to the concert whether or not his parents approved.

And that’s another tricky word pair for you! Until next time!