Confusing Words Clarified: Group P; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, etc.

1. To change into stone or a stony substance: "Over thousands of years, the buried tree trunk will gradually petrify into stone."

"His icy glare served to petrify me and I was unable to run away."

2. To confound with amazement or fear: "The harrowing tales of the author will petrify you and you will not want to walk in the graveyard after dark ever again."
3. To deaden or to stifle: "I had the feeling that the long lecture was going to petrify my mind because it was so boring."

To create a state of rottenness, physically or morally: "If you bury the garbage, it will putrefy and eventually become compost."

"He was so evil he seemed to putrefy everything around him."

1. To become pure or clean: "The brisk winds seemed to purify the air in the city."
2. To free from guilt or blemish: "Her confession that she took her mother's ring helped to purify her conscience."

1. A rare fact or event: "It is considered a phenomenon when the home football team wins a game even with their poor record."
2. Something that is known through the senses rather than known through thought or study: "In our science class, we studied the phenomenon of the fungus growing on the tree."
3. A fact of scientific interest that could be described or explained: "Our chemistry instructor demonstrated the phenomenon of mixing chemicals to produce dyes for industrial purposes."

Occasionally used as the singular form of phenomenon but such usage is considered incorrect: "When my essay was returned, my teacher had noted that I had correctly used the word 'phenomena' when discussing the many sightings of a rare bird on the river."

1. Extraordinary: "She made phenomenal progress with her singing lessons because she practiced every day."
2. Very good or great; unusual in a way that is very impressive: "The book was a phenomenal or huge success."

1. The art or practice of healing illness: "The new doctor was determined to succeed in the physic of his patients."
2. The profession of medicine: "She wanted to follow in her mother's footsteps and planned to study physic at the university."
3. A medicine: "He mixed a physic which was supposed to remove a wart on his foot."

The structure or form of an individual's body: "He exercised every day to maintain his healthy physique."

1. That which lies outside knowledge or physical science; immaterial or spiritual in nature; supernatural: "There was a psychic quality about her personality which puzzled her friends."
2. Characterized by extraordinary sensitivity: "She seemed to have a psychic understanding of the person’s troubles."
3. A medium or individual who is sensitive to supernatural influences: "We decided to go to see a psychic to see if we could learn anything about our future lives."

1. The 16th letter of the Greek alphabet: "I have memorized all the Greek letters up to and including pi (π)."
2. A number approximately equal to 3.14159 which is the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter and is represented by the symbol π: "Learning what pi means has presented a mental block which is still unclear to me."

1. A dessert or savory dish that is baked in a pastry shell often with two crusts: "She baked an apple pie for dessert which we ate with cheese."
2. A business or social activity: "She wanted to have her finger in every social pie in town."
3. The whole of something which can be divided into shares: "The bankers were determined to share the economic pie with the shareholders."

1. An open space in a town: "The cafes lined the piazza in the charming city."
2. A porch that is arcaded and roofed: "They sat in the piazza to stay out of the sun while they drank their coffee."

A single crusted pie often made of bread dough that is covered with spices, tomatoes, etc., and baked: "I like to put cheese and olives on my pizza when I make it at home."

1. An open air space in a city or town: "The new plaza was designed primarily for bicycle parking and pedestrian traffic."
2. A shopping area often adjacent to a road or highway: "My aunt's bakery is located in the plaza near the main road into the city."
3. An area on or next to a highway having restaurants, gas stations, restrooms, etc.: "Besides the toll booth, the plaza also had a service station and coffee shop; also called a toll plaza."

A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language: "The explorer in the desert learned to speak a pidgin form of the native language so he could communicate with those who lived there."

1. An easy target, often in the context of exploitation: "He flashed his money around in such a manner that it made him a pigeon for thieves."
2. Birds (Columbiformes) characterized by a stout body, short legs, and smooth, solid, compact plumage: "There is a handsome black and white pigeon that comes to eat bird feed every day in our back yard."

1. Any of various evergreen trees of the genus Pinus, having fascicles of needle-shaped leaves and producing woody, seed-bearing cones: "These pine trees are widely cultivated for ornament and shade and for their timber and resinous sap, which yields turpentine and pine tar."
2. A tree that has long, thin needles instead of leaves and which stays green throughout the year: "The wood of a pine tree is often used to make furniture."

1. To feel a lingering, often a nostalgic desire: "It was sad to see him pine all these months for his college sweetheart."
2. To wither or to waste away from longing or grief: "If he continues to grieve for his dead parents, he will pine away and die, too."

The long central part of a flower that extends from the ovary: "We could see the pistil or seed-bearing organ of the flower on our table."

A small gun made to be aimed and fired with one hand: "He practiced shooting his pistol at targets at least once a month."

1. Any of various thick, dark, sticky substances obtained from the distillation residue of coal tar, wood tar, or petroleum and used for waterproofing, roofing, caulking, and paving: "The workers will use the commercial pitch on our driveway today."
2. A resin derived from the sap of various coniferous trees, as the pines: "He just found out how sticky the pitch from the tree can be."

1. To throw, usually with careful aim: "The baseball player will pitch his first ball as a professional today."
2. To discard by throwing: "He plans to pitch the trash in the first bin that he finds."
3. To set at a particular level, degree, or quality: "Is it possible that she will pitch her expectations as a singer too high?"
4. To fall in a headlong manner: "He stepped on his shoelace and started to pitch down the staircase, but he was able to stop himself before being hurt."

Something which elicits a strong sense of sympathy or compassion: "The circumstances of poverty were piteous and roused my determination to help in the local soup kitchen."

Wretched, paltry, lamentable: "When the Industrial Revolution was just getting started, employees earned pitiable wages and often lived in piteous housing."

Touching, or exciting compassion: "The man who was standing on the corner looked so pitiful because he had no umbrella and he was being soaked by the unexpected rain."

An area with definite or indefinite boundaries; a portion of space: "We had to hunt for a large parking place for our truck because it was so big."

A large edible marine flatfish: "For lunch we decided to have plaice and chips at the roadside shop."

1. Outspoken, without subtlety: "The mayor was plain spoken and did not try to disguise what she was saying."
2. Ordinary, lacking in affectation: "Her manners were plain and helped to make visitors very comfortable."
3. Not complicated: "My mother preferred plain home cooked meals instead of highly spiced foods.”"
4. Wide, unbroken landscape, often treeless: "The fields of wheat covered the plain as far as we could see."
5. Without ornament: "The plain curtains in the window were strictly functional."

1. An instrument or tool for making the surface of wood smooth: "The cabinetmaker used a sharp plane to smooth the surface of the wooden table."
2. A level of consciousness or development: "His plane of thought was lofty and purely academic."
3. A major supporting surface of an airplane: "The plane of the new airplane was designed to hold the wing and be strong but not heavy."
4. A word used interchangeably with airplane: "The plane taxied to the take off site."
5. Flat, level; having no depressions or elevations: "The plane surface of the table was enhanced by the vase of stunning flowers."

1. A braid or pigtail: "Her plaint of hair was dark, heavy, and was hanging down her back."
2. To braid: "She decided to plait her hair with colored ribbons."

1. A flat and usually round dish which is used for eating or serving food: "I had a full plate of food so I didn't need to have any second servings."
2. Table settings or cutlery that is made by the process of chemically or electronically bonding a thin layer of a valuable metal onto a less valuable base metal: "The host set the table with the old family plate."
3. Any of large movable segments of the earth surface that shift during an earth quake: "The seismologist studied the plate in the earth quake prone area of the desert."
4. The dish which is passed among people for collections, often in a religious context: "The ushers passed the plate for contributions to support the church fund."

1. A fold in a piece of material, often cloth, made by doubling the material over itself: "The seamstress made a pleat in the belt on the coat so it would hang in an attractive style."
2. To create a fold: "The student decided to pleat the paper carefully to make a paper airplane."

1. Statements made by a party in a legal proceeding in support of the party's position; as well as, the responses of an accused person to the charges brought before the court: "The alleged robber entered pleas of "NOT GUILTY" in the court to the charges of robbing the bank and breaking the front door of the bank."
2. Explanations offered to excuse or to justify a decision: "We decided to leave the party early, offering our pleas to the host that we had an early appointment the next day."
3. Earnest begging or request for something: "Her pleas to stay out late did not make her parents change their position that she should be home before midnight."

1. To give satisfaction or pleasured: "She decided to please her friend by making a special chocolate cake for dessert."
2. A word used to express politeness: "Won’t you have some cake, please?"

"Please sit down and be comfortable by the fire."

A common or ordinary individual or behavior: "He always joked that he was a plebeian and rode his bicycle to work instead of taking the car."

A person who has low social status; such as, a member of the working class: "Because he lacked a proper education and social existence, he spent his whole life as a poor proletarian."