Rare words in common phrases, and how to avoid getting them wrong
English is a weird language. It’s essentially centuries-old bloatware, still running, consistently being updated, but largely made up of strange, ill-advised, or nonsensical patches and legacy commits (often copied and pasted straight from other languages).
One interesting result of this linguistic mishmash is that some rarely-used words survive purely because they exist in a common phrase or idiom. (Some linguists call this “fossilization;” the word is preserved inside a familiar wrapper.)
Take, for example the term: “wreak havoc.” It’s common enough that you’ve probably heard it fairly regularly, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “wreak” used in everyday language. I’m not even sure how else you’d use it, exactly, if it wasn’t paired with “havoc.” (“Time to eat, everyone, dinner is wreaked!” Nope, that doesn’t sound right.)
But in any case, I’m sure it’s not reek havoc. (That, I suppose, would be some kind of chaotic smell?)
Ok, so you might not use that specific example a lot. Not a lot of occasion in your life to discuss havoc being wreaked, perhaps. But many similar, widely-used phrases and idioms contain old, misunderstood words. So, in the interest of helping you type these phrases correctly, let’s get down to the list.
Core tenet
A tenet is a principle or belief; “one-way data flow is a core tenet of React.” (By the way: be sure to keep principle and principal straight, but that’s slightly off-topic.)
Tenet is commonly confused with the much more common word “tenant,” which is somebody who occupies rented space; “we’re considering leasing part of our office out to a tenant.”
So the phrase is core tenet, not core tenant. (I guess unless you mean the party renting the innermost center space.)
Unfazed
People commonly type “unphased” when they mean “unfazed.” The latter is what you want.
Fazed describes a reaction of concern or disconcertion; “although I was worried about our sprint goals, my teammates seemed unfazed.”
The more common word “phase” is generally a stage; something you go through, like a phase of the moon. “The team is currently in a rebuilding phase.” But don’t get them confused; you mean someone is “unfazed,” not “unphased.”
The utmost
Utmost means: the absolute highest possible. “I have the utmost respect for everything our CEO has accomplished, but he’s still wrong about our team’s needs.” Or: “this meeting is of the utmost importance.”
Many people mishear utmost as “upmost,” which actually is a word, but not the right one. Upmost means “uppermost” or “top.” (When playing a card game, you typically draw the upmost card from the deck.) So it’s technically not wrong to use in place of utmost, exactly, but it’s still not precisely right, either, because utmost is the word from the common phrase.
Albeit
Albeit means the same thing as “although”: “they’re a great client to have, albeit a demanding one.” Or: “we’re making progress, albeit slowly.”
Albeit just happens to sound like “I’ll be it, or “all be it,” neither of which is correct in this context.
Moot point
Moot means meaningless or irrelevant. “I mentioned all the ways React is a poor choice for us, but it was a moot point, as the cost of switching is too high to consider.”
People commonly mistake moot for “mute,” but that’s wrong. It’s a moot point, not a point that’s silent or speechless.
Rein / reign
Reins are used to control a mount or a chariot, and that’s where many modern idioms come from: “he kept losing the audience with bad jokes, so I told him to rein it in.” Or: “we need to figure out how to rein in our expenses.”
It’s also the same word used in phrases like “taking the reins”, i.e., passing steering control to another person: “our CEO announced she’ll be handing the reins over to a new leader.”
Rein is commonly confused with two homophones: reign, and rain. But reign is what a ruler or champion does, and rain, of course, might fall on a parade.
Wary / weary / leery
These may be the most commonly confused words on this list.
To be wary is to be cautious or skeptical; “our vendor is promising a 200% improvement in performance if we sign with them now, but I’m wary.”
Leery means the same thing, and you can use the two interchangeably: “I’m leery of any company that makes such bold claims.”
Weary, however, means “tired.” “I’m weary from being up late last night.” Weary is often mistakenly used instead of wary, though, probably because it sounds a lot like leery.
Per se
This one is doubly tricky, because the original phrase is not only Latin, but it’s also commonly misused and misunderstood.
People often use per se to mean “exactly,” as in: “I wouldn’t say I was mad about it, per se.” But while that usage isn’t always wrong, it isn’t always right, either.
Per se actually means “by itself,” “on its own,” or “intrinsically.” You can substitute per se anywhere you might use the phrase “in and of itself”:
“I don’t hate Tailwind per se (in and of itself), I just can’t stand the culture around it.” Or: “it wasn’t a bad decision per se (on its own), but it’s having some undesirable side effects.”
Chock-full
One of the more archaic words on the list, a chock, in this case, is a wooden wedge stuffed into a barrel to fill any empty gaps. (You may also know a “chock” as a triangular block used to keep wheels from rolling, but that’s a slightly different meaning.)
In this context, chocks were used to prevent the contents of containers from shifting in transit, and to make sure there was no empty space for anything unwanted to get into or hide in; they filled things as full as possible.
So to say something is stuffed to the maximum, you say it’s chock-full: “CSS is chock-full of delightful surprises.” (Notice the hyphenation.)
Some people mishear the phrase as “chalk full,” but that’s not a phrase, and it’s also “chock-full,” not “chocked-full.” (You may, however, chalk it up to a misunderstanding.)
Flesh out / flush out
You flesh out a loose concept or idea; “we had a meeting to flesh out the design of the new feature in more detail.”
You flush out something you want to find and remove, especially from a hiding place. “We were finally able to flush out the code causing those flaky CI errors.”
Elicit / illicit
Probably not as common as most of the mistakes on this list, but still worth a mention, since these words sound alike and are easily confused.
To elicit is to evoke or draw out, especially as a reaction: “Karen’s sexist comments elicited some strong and well-deserved pushback.”
Illicit means forbidden or illegal: “we’re not supposed to have games on our company laptops, but Todd installed an illicit copy of Balatro.”
Say your piece / say your peace
These two phrases are actually both correct, but you’d use them differently.
To say your piece is to state your opinion; to play your part, or your piece. “I said my piece in the meeting, as did everyone else.”
To say your peace, on the other hand, is to get everything off your chest, particularly if you’re saying it once and for all. You might say your peace at a funeral, for example, or in a deep conversation. “We had a long talk where I said my peace on everything I’ve been feeling, and now I’m ready to move on.” It means to be at peace, because you’ve said everything you have to say.
Discrete / discreet
These words aren’t as old-fashioned as many on the list, but I felt they were worth including since they’re very easily confused. (I have to look the difference up every time myself. By the way: Raycast’s Dictionary shortcut is super helpful for that.)
Discrete means separate or distinct: “email is sent from a discrete server, separate from the one running our main app.”
Discreet means unobtrusive, careful, or concealed: “our manager wasn’t supposed to say anything, but they discreetly warned us layoffs might be coming.”
A mnemonic to help remember the two: the one that means separate has the E’s at the end separated by a T.
Ulterior motives
Ulterior refers to something intentionally hidden. “Our competitor seems interested collaborating with us on this initiative, but I suspect they have ulterior motives.”
Ulterior is commonly misspelled “alterior,” because that sounds a bit like “alternate,” and to say somebody has alternate motives makes sense in this context. But that’s not a word, and not the proper phrase.
Sleight of hand
Sleight means cunning and dextrous. “The app feels fast, but it’s actually some behind-the-scenes sleight of hand that makes it feel more speedy than it actually is.”
“Slight of hand” is an understandable mishearing, but it’s still incorrect, as “slight” doesn’t mean the same thing as sleight.
Eke (out)
Commonly confused with eek (which is what you might say if you’re surprised or scared), eke is a separate word that means to get by, but just barely. “Thanks to that last-second field goal, they were just able to eke out the win.”