play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Commonly Confused

Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

How to remember which is which


Editor Serenity Carr breaks down hanger vs. hangar with a simple trick to keep them apart.

Transcript

Hanger. There's the one for clothes and the one for airplanes. They sound the same but are spelled differently. One ends in er, the other ends in ar. So how do you remember which is which? The airplane hangar ends in ar, which is one letter short of air.

Up next

play hanger-hangar-illustrations
Is It 'Hanger' or 'Hangar'?

 

How to remember which is which

play video drive safe ly
Drive Safe: In Praise of Flat Adverbs

 

You don't have to end all your adverbs in -ly to talk right.

play alt-5db61f2bd1cc5
How Do You Pronounce 'Groceries'?

 

Is there one standard way?

play video his or her
Is Singular 'They' a Better Choice?

 

The awkward case of 'his or her'

play emily-brewster-with-the-words-effect-affect-on-screen
How to Remember 'Affect' and 'Effect'

 

A simple way to keep them apart. (Most of the time.)

play semantic bleaching text on white background
What Is 'Semantic Bleaching'?

 

How 'literally' can mean "figuratively"

play mrs malaprop
What is a Malaprop?

 

We'll tell you all the perpendiculars