Hello all!

It’s time to conquer another confusing word pair! Today we’re tackling elicit and illicit, two words that are often confused because they sound the same when they’re spoken. Their meanings, however, are vastly different, so it’s a good practice to check and make sure you’re using the correct word in each situation!

Elicit is a verb meaning “to draw out” something from someone. Usually, the something being drawn is intangible, spoken words, like an answer to a question or some sort of information. Illicit, on the other hand, is an adjective meaning “illegal.” So, I was unable to elicit any information from her about her illicit activities.

The big question now is, how do you keep these two straight? I’m sorry to say that I don’t have an easy trick for you for this pair. I can suggest a few ideas, like remembering that elicit is the verb because elicit and verb both have an e as their first vowel, or remembering that illicit means illegal because they both begin with ill. In the end, however, your best bet is probably to either look at the words and see if you notice something about them that will help you remember which is which, or just simply look them up when you’re going to use them. And while taking the time to look something up might feel inconvenient in the moment, the higher quality of writing you’ll wind up with as a result is definitely worth the effort!

Until next time!