A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
- 'Tis the season
- As thick as thieves
- Blow your own trumpet and toot your own horn
- Bottom line
- Brain trust vs think tank
- Breadcrumbs, breadcrumb trail and trail of breadcrumbs
- Bring vs take
- Burnish vs tarnish
- Cannot see the forest for the trees
- Carry a torch for someone, torch song and torch singer
- Cisgender vs transgender
- Close-knit and tight-knit
- Coin a phrase
- Daylight Saving Time or British Summer Time
- Decathlon, heptathlon, pentathlon, triathlon and biathlon
- Duck tape or duct tape
- Firsthand and secondhand vs first-hand and second-hand
- Fly in the face of
- Greenhorn vs tinhorn
- Hear through the grapevine, bush telegraph or jungle telegraph
- Heavens to Murgatroyd
- Hobo, tramp, bum, or gutter punk
- Hurricane, typhoon and cyclone
- Kleenex vs tissue
- Knock on wood and touch wood
- Leotard vs tights
- Like taking candy from a baby
- Militant or terrorist
- On your mark, get set, go! and ready, set, go!
- Overtake, take over and takeover
- Overthink vs think over
- Potato and potatoes, tomato and tomatoes
- Prom and The Proms
- Strategy vs tactic
- T-shirt, t-shirt, tee-shirt, tee shirtT-Shirt with a capital T is the most common form.
- Tabula rasa
- Tacit vs taciturn
- Tack vs. tactTact is sensitivity in social situations. A tack is a course or an approach. When switching to a different approach, one changes tack, not tact.
- Tacks vs tax
- Tad bit vs tidbit
- Tail vs. taleTail: something at the rear of something else. Tale: a story.
- Tail wagging the dog
- Take a back seat
- Take a gander
- Take a rain check
- Take a shine to
- Take for granted or take for granite
- Take over vs. takeoverTake over is a phrasal verb. Takeover is a noun or an adjective, never a verb.
- Take the bull by the horns and grab the bull by the horns
- Take the cake
- Take the high road
- Take the mickey out of someone
- Take with a grain of salt and take with a pinch of salt
- Takeaway and takeouttakeout in the U.S. and usually in Canada; takeaway everywhere else.
- Taken abacksurprised or disconcerted.
- Talk turkey
- Tanker vs tankard
- Taper vs tapir
- Tar and feather
- Tar baby
- Tariff
- Taro vs tarot
- Tartar or tartare
- Taser
- Tattletale vs telltale
- Taught vs taut
- Taupe vs tope
- Taut vs taunt
- Tautology
- Tea vs tee
- Teacher's pet
- Team vs teem
- Tear vs tare
- Teas vs tease
- Tease out
- Teeth vs. teetheTeeth (n.): plural of tooth. Teethe (v.): to grow teeth.
- Teetotaler, teetotallerone who abstains from alcoholic beverages. Teetotaler in the U.S.; teetotaller outside the U.S.
- Telegram vs. telegraphTelegraph is the technology, and the word doubles as a verb meaning (1) to send a telegram, and (2) to make known in advance. A telegram is a message sent via telegraph.
- Tell it to the marines
- Temblor, tremblor or trembler
- Tempest in a teapot and storm in a teacup
- Tempus fugit
- Tenant vs. tenetTenet: a principle held as being true. Tenant: one who occupies a place.
- Tenure vs tenor
- TerminateIt's overharsh when used with a person as its direct object.
- Tern vs turn
- Terra firma
- Terrific vs terrifying
- Terza rima
- Testament vs. testimonyTestimony: a declaration of truth or fact. Testament: something that serves as proof or evidence.
- Tete-a-tetea meeting or private conversation between two people.
- Textish
- Than vs. thenThen is mainly an adverb used to situation actions in time. Than is a conjunction used mainly in making comparisons.
- Thanksgiving or Thanksgiving Day
- That or whoThat is generally used for inanimate things and animals, and who for humans, but this non-rule is widely broken.
- That vs. whichThey are often interchangeable, but that usually introduces restrictive clauses, and which usually introduces nonrestrictive ones.
- That whichIt can often be shortened to a one-word equivalent.
- The $64,000 questionthe crucial or essential question.
- The apple of one's eye
- The birds and the bees
- The BronxAs a noun, it takes the definite article (which is uncapitalized). As an adjective, it goes without the article.
- The die is castThere is no going back.
- The dogs of war
- The exception that proves the rule
- The face that launched a thousand ships
- The handwriting on the wall or the writing on the wall
- The lateIt is a respectful way of saying "recently deceased."
- The penny dropped
- The quick and the dead
- The ruba difficulty or impediment.
- The seven-year itch
- The vs thee
- Theater vs. theatretheater in the U.S.; theatre everywhere else.
- Their, them, themselves, they (as singular pronouns)They will continue to face resistance in some circles, but they are well-established in general usage.
- Their, there, they'reTheir: possessive of they. There: a versatile adverb, noun, and pronoun. They're: contraction of they are.
- Them's the breaks or brakes
- There's no free lunch
- ThereforeIt is often at the center of run-on sentences.
- Therefore vs therefor
- Thesauri or thesaurusus
- Think outside the box
- Third railan issue no one wants to touch.
- This ain't my first rodeo
- Tho, althoThey are likely to be considered out of place in formal writing.
- Thong or flip-flop
- Thrall
- Three sheets to the wind
- Threshold or threshhold
- Threw vs. throughThrew: past tense of throw. Through (prep.): in one side and out the other.
- Throes vs throws
- Throne vs thrown
- Through and through or thru and thru
- Through vs. thruThe longer form is still preferred by a large margin.
- Throw in the towel
- Throw shade
- Throw the baby out with the bathwater
- Throw under the bus1. to betray; 2. to callously dispose of; 3. to pass blame onto another for selfish reasons. It is overused.
- Thrust, thrustedThe verb is usually uninflected.
- Thumb one’s nose and cock a snook
- Thumbs up and thumbs down
- ThuslyIt's not wrong, but it can always give way to thus, which is an adverb in its own right.
- Thyme vs time
- Tic vs. tickTic: 1. a spasmodic muscle movement; 2. a recurrent trait or quirk. Tick: 1. a clicking sound; 2. a moment; 3. a mark used to check off an item; 4. a bloodsucking insect or arachnid.
- Tidbit vs. titbittidbit in North America; titbit everywhere else.
- Tiddlywinks and tiddleywinks
- Tide over
- Tide someone over vs tied someone over
- Tie the knot
- Till, until, 'tilTill and until bear the same meanings and are always interchangeable. There is no reason to shorten either of them to 'til.
- Tilting at windmills
- Timber or timbreTimbre: tone quality. Timber: wood.
- Timeout vs. time outOutside North America, it's always two words. In North America, it's one word in sports and two words in all other contexts.
- Timpanum, timpani, tympanum, tympaniA kettledrum is a timpanum. Multiple kettledrums are timpani. For senses of the word unrelated to music, tympanum and tympani are the preferred spellings.
- Tinder vs tender
- Tinker's damn and tinker's dam
- Tinsel vs tensile
- Tinseltown
- Tire vs. tyretire in North America; tyre outside North America.
- Tit for tat
- Titan vs tighten
- Title capitalization
- TMI
- To a Tperfectly or exactly.
- To bootin addition, besides.
- To say the least and to say the least of it
- To the nines
- To vs. tooTo: a versatile preposition with many definitions. Too: 1. also; 2. excessively; 3. very.
- To witnamely or that is to say.
- Toe the lineto do what is expected or to follow rules.
- Toe vs tow
- Toffee-nosed
- Toile vs toil
- Toile vs tulle
- Toilettethe act or process of dressing or grooming oneself.
- Tole vs toll
- Tolerance vs. tolerationToleration is mainly a less common variant, with some exceptions.
- Tomfoolery
- Tommy John surgery
- Ton vs. tonneTon: 2,000 pounds in the U.S. Tonne: a metric ton, or 1,000 kilograms.
- Tongue-in-cheekmeant ironically or facetiously.
- Tontine
- Tool vs tulle
- Top banana and second banana
- Top dog
- Topography vs. typographyTopography: surface features of a place. Typography: the art of typing.
- Tor vs tore
- Torrent vs torrid
- Torturous vs. tortuousTorturous: of, related to, or causing torture. Tortuous: twisted, winding, or complicated.
- Toss-up
- Totaled/totaling vs. totalled/totallingtotaled and totaling in the U.S.; totalled and totalling everywhere else.
- Touch and goA touch-and-go situation is one that is risky or precarious and has a significant chance of failure.
- Touch base
- Touche or touché
- Tough row to hoea large, challenging undertaking.
- Tough vs tuff
- Tour de forcean impressive display of skill, effort, or strength.
- Tout
- Toward vs. towardsusually toward in North America, and toward everywhere else, but both appear everywhere.
- Toweled or towelled
- Toxicology vs. toxologyToxicology: the study of poisons and of chemical effects on the human body. Toxology: the study of archery.
- Track and field and athletics
- Track vs tract
- Tractable vs trackable
- Tragedy vs travesty
- Trainer or trainor
- Training wheels vs stabilisers
- Traitor vs trader
- Transgender, transsexual, transvestiteTransvestite: a person who dresses in a manner traditionally associated with the opposite sex. Transsexual: one who wishes to be considered as a member of the opposite biological sex. Transgender: a general term covering many people who don't conform to traditional gender roles.
- Translucent vs. transparentTransparent: so clear one can see through as if nothing's there. Translucent: allows light but with diffusion or distortion.
- Transparent, translucent and opaque
- Transpireoften just a formal word for happen.
- Transport vs. transportationtransportation in the U.S. and usually in Canada; transport outside North America.
- Trap vs entrap
- Traveled/traveling vs. travelled/travellingtraveled and traveling in the U.S.; travelled and travelling everywhere else.
- Trawl vs. trollTrawl: to catch fish with a large net. Troll: to fish by trailing a line behind a boat.
- Treacle
- TreasurysIn reference to U.S. Treasury bonds, treasury is pluralized in an unconventional way: Treasurys.
- Treatise vs treaties
- Treble vs. tripleWhere they have to do with threes, there is no substantive difference between them, but triple is far more common.
- Trial by fire
- Trick or treat vs trick-or-treat
- Trip the light fantastic
- Trocheein poetry, a metrical foot consisting of a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed one.
- Troika
- Troop vs. troupe
- Trooper or trouper
- TropeTraditionally, a figure of speech in which a word or phrase conveys a meaning other than its literal sense; in modern use, anything that recurs.
- Truck withdo business.
- Trussed vs trust
- Trustee vs. trustyTrusty: trustworthy or reliable. Trustee: a person to whom something is trusted.
- Tsk-tsk1. shame on you; 2. an expression of disappointment or condemnation; 3. to express disappointment or to condemn.
- Tsunami vs tidal wave
- Tumor vs. tumourTumor in the U.S.; tumour everywhere else.
- Tunneled, tunneling vs. tunnelled, tunnellingtunneled and tunneling in the U.S.; tunnelled and tunnelling outside North America. Both forms are common in Canadian writing.
- Turban vs turbine
- Turbid, turgid, torpidTurbid: having sediment. Turgid: 1. bloated; 2. excessively ornate or complex. Torpid: lethargic or sluggish.
- Turducken
- Turn a blind eye
- Turnabout is fair play
- Turnkey vs turn key
- Turpitude vs turpentine
- Turtle, tortoise, terrapinTurtle: an order of reptiles with bony shells. Tortoise: a land-dwelling turtle. Terrapin: a species of turtle native to coastal southern U.S.
- Tussie-mussie vs nosegay
- Twee
- Tween
- Tween or teen
- Twelve days of Christmas
- Two-bit
