Site vs. Sight vs. Cite
It's a spell check-busting triple feature: wheee! We know you're just as excited as we are, so let's not waste any time in breaking things down.
Sight
The word sight is related to vision.
- When sight is used as a noun, it refers to the act of seeing or to something worth seeing.
- When sight is used as a verb it means the same thing as to see.
Site
The word site is all about location, location, location.
Examples
"An iconic, red double-decker bus is a great way to take in the sights and sounds of London."
Personally, we prefer the triple-decker Knight Bus from Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. In this Muggleworthy example, sights is the correct word because it refers to things worth seeing in England's capital.
"That empty lot on the corner of Main and Washington is the perfect site for a new gelato shop."
If you ask us, every site is the perfect location for a gelato shop. And since we're talking about location, site is the perfect word for this sentence.
"Miller tried to cite an obscure traffic law to get out of his speeding ticket."
Even though Miller's defense is a bit suspect, cite is the correct word for this sentence because Miller is trying to use a weird, old law as proof that he and his lead foot should be let off the hook.
Common Mistakes using Homophones
- Affect vs. Effect
- Compliment vs. Complement
- Past vs Passed
- Illusion vs Allusion
- Weather vs Whether
- Presence vs Presents
- Site vs Sight vs Cite
- Principle vs Principal
- Stationary vs Stationery
- Whole vs Hole
- Accept vs Except
- Already vs All Ready
- Elicit vs Illicit
- Altogether vs All Together
- Breath vs Breathe
- Costumes vs Customs
- Advice vs Advise
- Lose vs Loose
- Definitely vs Defiantly
- Desert vs Dessert
- Through vs Threw
- Assure vs Ensure vs Insure