We’d vs. Weed

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Grammarist

We’d and weed are two words that are pronounced in the same manner but are spelled differently and have different meanings, which makes them homophones. We will examine the definitions of we’d and weed, where these two words came from and some examples of their use in sentences.

We’d is a contraction of either we would, we had or we should. Contractions have been around as long as the English language, many examples exist in Old English. Interestingly, while the use of contractions has always been popular in spoken English, there have been periods in history when the use of contractions in written English was frowned upon. Today, contractions such as we’d are not generally used in academic and scientific writing, but may be found in more informal methods of written communication.

A weed is a wild plant that grows where it is not wanted. Some examples of weeds are white clover, buttercups and dandelions. Some plants that are considered to be weeds in one part of the world may be sought-after cultivated plants in other parts of the world. Weed is used as a noun or a verb, in which case the term weed means to remove weeds from an area. Related words are weeds, weeded, weeding. The word weed is derived from the Old English word weod, meaning grass or weed.

Examples

And if we were being honest, we’d probably concede that political and opinion Twitter has made many otherwise well-adjusted people a bit obsessed with their new publics, checking just a bit too frequently whether that brilliant aperçu they just typed has begun its viral zoom. (The New York Times)

“While we were together, he would ask, ‘Jess, can I smoke weed for my pain?’” Versteeg said. (Forbes Magazine)

Most people spend a lot of time weeding their gardens and often get discouraged about gardening in general because of the persistent weeds. (The North Platte Telegraph)