Sight vs. site

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Grammarist

A site is (1) a place where something is located, or (2) a website. While site has few definitions, sight has many, including (1) the ability to see; (2) one’s field of vision; (3) something seen; (4) a place or thing worth seeing; and (5) the part of a firearm used to aim. It appears in the common phrases set one’s sightsout of sightsight unseen, and sight for sore eyes.

Examples

A woman’s skeleton found at a building site in Manchester city centre may have lain undiscovered for up to 50 years. [Defrosting Cold Cases]

We inspected the scene this morning. It’s still very much an active construction site that includes a handful of security guards sitting around. [AV Club]

See the sights

Confusion sometimes occurs in sentences like this:

But Marks said he’s most excited to go to New York and see the sites with his friends. [PJ Star]

While some of the things Marks wants to see in New York may be historic sites or building sites, the correct word in this case would be sights—i.e., places or things worth seeing.

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