{"id":470,"date":"2009-01-05T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2009-01-05T18:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/blog\/2009\/01\/carat-vs-caret-vs-carrot-vs-karat\/"},"modified":"2011-05-31T19:56:38","modified_gmt":"2011-06-01T01:56:38","slug":"carat-vs-caret-vs-carrot-vs-karat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kirkmahoney.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2009\/01\/carat-vs-caret-vs-carrot-vs-karat\/","title":{"rendered":"“carat” vs. “caret” vs. “carrot” vs. “karat”"},"content":{"rendered":"

I sometimes see two or three of these nouns used interchangeably.<\/p>\n

Problem:<\/strong>
\nMost Americans pronounce these nouns in the same way, but they have distinct meanings.<\/p>\n

Explanation:<\/strong>
\nI confess that I do not make any distinctions in pronunciation of these four nouns, but I am sure that some people do.<\/p>\n

My excuse for identical pronunciations is that all four nouns have the emphasis on the first syllable, and this makes it more difficult to pronounce different endings differently.<\/p>\n

As noted at Wikipedia, identical pronunciation of these four nouns makes them homophones<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nobody can pronounce the A-T word “carat” — starting with a “c” — differently than the A-T word “karat” — starting with a “k” — but these two nouns do have different meanings.<\/p>\n

Here are the definitions of these four nouns:<\/p>\n