The right Word

genes: Units of inheritance, a part of our DNA, that give us our individual traits such as hair color, eye color, blood type, etc. (Jane’s blue eyes came from her mother’s genes); a talent inherited from our parents (Simon’s tenor voice is in his genes) jeans: A rugged twilled cotton trouser, usually blue in color (jeans were first patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis in 1873 in America) gild/gilled/guild gild: To cover with a thin layer of gold or gold paint, usually done to make the article more impressive; also used in the expression gild the lily, meaning the unnecessary use of adornment or to over-embellish (the expression gild the lily originated from Shakespeare’s play King John) gilled: To have gills, the respiratory organs of aquatic animals that breathe water to attain oxygen (the six-gilled shark is a large primitive shark that lives deep in the sea) guild: In the Middle Ages, a group of people engaged in a particular trade or occupation, a precursor of the trade union, later represented merchants and owners of businesses (guild halls still exist in the 21st century, as do some guilds, such as the Pharmacy Guild of Australia) gilled/guild/gild (see gild/gilled/guild) gilt/guilt gilt: A description of an object covered with a thin layer of gold, gold paint, or gold leaf (the gilt frame enhanced the portrait) guilt: The act of feeling the blame for an action (he was full of guilt when he realized that his actions had caused his mother grief; the murderer confessed his guilt when he was apprehended) glair/glare glair: A preparation made from the white of an egg glare: A strong, bright, dazzling light (the glare of the oncoming car’s headlights caused Sarah to swerve to avoid a head-on collision); a fierce or long look (Henry’s glare indicated that he was extremely unhappy with Alison’s reply) glare/glair (see glair/glare) gnu/knew/new gnu: A wildebeest, a South African animal similar to an ox (many tourists visiting South Africa hope to see a gnu) knew: Past tense of “to know” (I knew him when he was a little boy; it was common knowledge that he knew more about the accident than he was telling anyone)