There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Mathematically, you can form an endless the number of words, though many unabridged dictionaries only list 300,000 or so. Are you using the right words?

Finding the Right Words

Dictionary.com makes an interesting argument. Do hug, hugs, and hugged all count as one word because they have the same base? Is hug a different word when used as a noun instead of a verb? What about colloquialisms, dialects, words appropriated from other languages? If a word has a different meaning based on context, does it count as more than one word? New words and phrases enter the lexicon every year. No one in Shakespeare’s time would know what being on-brand was or anything about screen time.

No matter how you look at it, there are more than enough words to choose from when you want to get your ideas out into the world. Picking the right words is not always so easy. The important thing is to be true to yourself and use words that mean something to you.

Don’t Complicate Things

Big words don’t always make you sound smart. They can sometimes do the opposite.

Odds are you’ve read a story where a word caught you off guard. It somehow missed the tone of the piece or felt out of place. Perhaps the author was being a bit showy, the word felt forced or contrived, or you didn’t know what it meant. Regardless of the why, that one word pulled your attention away from what you were reading. At the very least it slowed you down.

It goes to show how important it is to choose the right words. Even if a word perfectly conveys what you mean to say, it could misfire if it is unfamiliar to your reader. Did you have to look the word up yourself? Will your reader? Or have you made it perfectly clear in the context of what you’ve written? If there’s any question, you may want to reconsider using it.

The worst thing you can do as a writer is pull your reader out of the story. Don’t use words because they sound “fancy” or “sophisticated”. Say what you mean to say in language that makes sense for your story.

Watch for Homophones

So many words sound alike in English. That doesn’t make them interchangeable.

• Barry ate the whole pie by jamming it in his pie hole.
• Caitlin got hoarse after calling for the horse.
• Cisco tied the boat to the dock before the tide came in.
• Colonel Harrison got a kernel caught in his teeth.
• Iris ate a carrot while wearing a one carat ring.
• Joe’s son squinted up at the sun.
• Our event took an hour.
• One woman won the race.
• They banned the band from playing unlicensed songs at the rally.
• Wally paid a fare to enter the fair.

Don’t make the mistake of swapping one word for the other or you could change the meaning of your story.

Bonus points if you can name what show inspired these character names!

Know the Meaning

Don’t be one of those people who “thinks” they know what a word means and then throw it willy nilly into your story. That’s a great way to lose your reader, especially if THEY know what the word really means.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Inigo Montoya, The Princess Bride

Inconceivable means something that cannot be imagined, something impossible. Vizzini used the word five times to describe events in The Princess Bride but only AFTER they took place. By definition, they happened so they were possible!

It’s not unlike people who misuse literally when they mean figuratively, e.g., “I literally died.” Unless you’re Jesus or a zombie, that’s just not true! Ironic is a big one too. Irony isn’t a coincidence or something out of the ordinary. Irony is the use of words with the opposite literal meaning or a situation where the the opposite of what is intended happens. Let’s say Alanis Morissette’s Ironic is not so ironic. Rain on your wedding day is just bad luck.

Write by Location

Some words mean different things depending on where you grew up, where you live, or where you happen to do your reading. Pop could mean soda or a father depending where you live in the states. Wicked is awesome in Massachusetts but evil most everywhere else.

If you have characters traveling to other countries in your stories, keep the local syntax in check for your writing to be believable. An American in England is a popular one.

Word	American	British
Casket	A coffin	A small box used to store jewelry and trinkets
Dummy	A mannequin or a not-so-smart person	A baby pacifier
First Floor	Ground floor	Floor above ground floor
Hamper	A laundry bin	A picnic basket
Pants	Trousers	Underwear
Solicitor	Someone trying to sell you something	A lawyer
Table (verb)	To put off discussing a topic	To raise a topic for discussion
Trolley	A mode of public transportation	A shopping cart

Reading is easy. Writing is hard. Use the right words and keep those readers reading.