Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and I’ve been seeing a common spelling mistake recently on social media. Many people are writing weary when they mean to write wary.
These words look similar, but they’re pronounced differently and have different meanings. “Weary” spelled W-E-A-R-Y means fatigued or exhausted. “Wary” spelled W-A-R-Y means alert or mistrustful. Many spelling mistakes like this can be attributed to the difference between British and American English. This one can’t. There’s only one right way to spell both of these words and one right definition for each.
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