A linguist friend of mine recently posted on Facebook the following statement:

I am weary of people saying they’re “weary” when they mean “wary”. It makes me wary of their spelling skills.

If that did not make any sense to you, don’t worry just keep reading and it will by the end of this post. If it made perfect sense to you then you have a better grasp of these two words (weary and wary) than most native English speakers and you should give yourself a pat on the back!

‘Weary’ and ‘wary’ are two similar sounding word that even native English speakers often confuse, but after today you will no longer have to be wary of confusing them. Let’s define these two words:

weary (adjective) – tired, fatigued, physically or mentally exhausted from hard work
wary (adjective) – watchful, cautious, suspicious, or on guard against danger

‘Weary’ and ‘wary’ have a few things in common, they sound alike, they have a similar spelling, and they are adjectives. That is it. If you have trouble keeping them separate in your mind one hint I have is to remember that ‘wary’ has the same roots as ‘aware’ and ‘beware,’ so when you are wary you need to be aware of what is going on or beware of danger.

Now, let’s have some practice with these two words. Take a look at the sentences below and select which word best fits given the context.

1. Erin was (weary, wary) of hearing people complain about the weather.

2. We became (weary, wary) of the guide’s ability when it started to get dark and he could not find our camp for the night.

3. Ava became (weary, wary) of the cashier after she saw her give the women in front of her the wrong change.

4. After a long day work out in the fields, the farmer sat down (weary, wary) from work.

Scroll down for the answers…

 
1.weary; 2. wary; 3. wary; 4. weary;