Homophones Could Ruin Your Resume

Do you have a homophone phobia? Maybe you should. Homophones are words that sound alike even though they have different meanings and spellings. They can be land mines on the battlefield of communication and resume writing when looking for a job.

Undetected by spell-check and untrained editors, homophones can wreak havoc on your grammatical credibility in professional correspondence and potentially cost you the position. The best way to wage war with the sneaky syntax traps is to keep an eye out for common mistakes and understand the difference between the definitions.

1. ACCEPT - EXCEPT
   To accept something is to take it. Except would single it out. “I would accept the job except it is too far away.”
2. AFFECT - EFFECT
   Affect produces a change and effect is the change it produces. “I would like to affect the audiences emotions by using a particular lighting effect.”
3. ASSURE - ENSURE - INSURE
   To assure is to make a confident statement or pledge. To ensure is to make something certain or secure. Insure minimizes financial losses. "Can you assure you that you will ensure I receive health insurance?"
4. CITE - SIGHT - SITE
   Cite is a quote or reference, sight relates to vision and site it a place. “The article which cited the most populate job sites caught my sight.”
5. CONTINUALLY - CONTINUOUSLY
   Continually denotes a regularly schedule activity while continuously means without ceasing. "I continually go to job fairs."
6. EMINENT - IMMINENT
   Eminent is important and imminent is destined. “it was imminent that I would be eminent.”
7. FARTHER - FURTHER
   Farther relates to distance. Further compares time or degree. “You will get further in your job search if you apply to places farther out.”
8. FLAIR - FLARE
   Flair is talent and style. Flare is a bright burst. “The photographer had a flair for using lens flares.”
9. INCITE - INSIGHT - IN SIGHT
   Incite starts something. Insight reveals something and in sight is within the field of vision. “I had the insight to incite a campaign to clean up everything in sight.”
10. ITS - IT'S
    Its is possessive while it’s is a contraction. “It’s my opinion that the homophone is its own worst enemy.”

Check back soon for the next 10 commonly confused homophones.


By Heather Fairchild - Heather is a multimedia developer with experience in web, film, photography and animation as well as traditional fine arts like painting and sculpting. In addition to writing for ArmedServicesJobsBlog.com, she is co-founder of design and promotion company. Heather’s spare time consists of making puppets, teaching Sunday School, building Legos and doing science experiments with her children.