5 exercises on commonly confused near-homophones in tech writing.
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Choose the correctly used word: "The function should ___ a callback as its second argument."
Accept /əkˈsept/ means "to receive or take in" — the function accepts a callback. Except /ɪkˈsept/ means "excluding" and is a different word. The two are near-homophones, distinguished mainly by the first vowel: "accept" starts with a weak schwa-like /ə/ ("uhk-"), while "except" starts with /ɪk/ ("ik-"). In tech writing this pair is constantly confused. Mnemonic: accept = acquire (take in); except = exclude (leave out). "This endpoint accepts JSON" is correct; "accepts everything except null" uses both.
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Choose the correct word: "All HTTP methods are supported ___ DELETE."
Except /ɪkˈsept/ means "excluding; apart from" — everything is supported except DELETE. Accept /əkˈsept/ ("to receive") would be wrong here. The sound difference is subtle: "except" begins /ɪk/ ("ik-sept"), "accept" begins /ək/ ("uhk-sept"). Both stress the second syllable. Remember: except = exclude. So "all browsers work except IE" means IE is the exclusion. Mixing these up changes the meaning of a sentence entirely, so it is a high-value minimal pair to master.
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Choose the correct word: "Caching does not ___ the correctness of the result, only its speed."
Affect /əˈfekt/ is usually a verb meaning "to influence": caching does not affect correctness. Effect /ɪˈfekt/ is usually a noun meaning "a result". The pronunciations are close: "affect" begins with a weak /ə/ ("uh-FECT"), "effect" with /ɪ/ ("ih-FECT"). Mnemonic: Affect = Action (verb); Effect = End result (noun). So "the change affected performance" (verb) had "a noticeable effect" (noun). This is one of the most confused pairs in technical writing.
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Choose the correct word: "The side ___ of this refactor was a 20% memory reduction."
Here you need the nouneffect /ɪˈfekt/, meaning "a result or consequence" — a side effect. The verb "affect" would be ungrammatical after "side". So "side effect", "ripple effect" and "the effect of the cache" all use the noun effect. Pronunciation: "effect" opens with /ɪ/ ("ih-FECT"), "affect" with /ə/ ("uh-FECT"); both stress syllable two. Mnemonic: an Effect is the End result. (Rare exceptions exist — "effect" as a verb means "to bring about" — but the noun is what you need here.)
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Choose the correct word: "This algorithm is faster ___ the brute-force approach."
Than /ðæn/ is used for comparisons: faster than, bigger than, more efficient than. Then /ðen/ refers to time or sequence: "compile, then run". The two differ only in the vowel: "than" uses the open /æ/ ("a" as in "cat"), while "then" uses /e/ ("e" as in "bed"). Both start with the voiced "th" /ð/. Mnemonic: thAn for compArison; thEn for timE/sEquence. So "if x > y then return" (sequence) versus "x is greater than y" (comparison). Mixing them is a very common written error.