Rye - wry

These two homophones, both pronounced IPA: /raɪ/, have been confused on occasion. They have completely different meanings - and belong to different word classes. Do not confuse them!

• The only current meaning of the common noun rye is a cereal crop. Rye is grown mostly in cool climates and poorish soils. It is used for making bread of a particular kind ('rye bread') and a particular kind of whiskey made in the United States.

There is also a proper noun, Rye. This is usually a place-name, or sometimes a surname derived from it. In Britain, this is a town in East Sussex (one of the Cinque Ports). There are other places with the same name in other countries.

• The only current use of wry is as an adjective meaning 'twisted' or 'bent'. It is most often applied to features of the head and neck, such as the smile or laugh or the neck itself. People who "pull a wry face" are 'making a face', or distorting their features, usually to indicate a faintly unpleasant emotion. A 'wry laugh' is one which indicates that the laugher has been the victim - of circumstances, of failure, or just of a joke - but has a good enough sense of humour to be amused by it.

One's plans, or life, or flower arrangements can go awry, that is 'astray' or 'wrong': all these can be distorted from the straight, or tidy, line that has been proposed for them.

The confusion of these homophones is wittily illustrated by The Guardian's reader's editor Siobhain Butterworth when she wrote (on 15/10/2007),"on the perils of homophones and other bloopers":

"A late goal by a City player resulted in a draw and the report said: 'It meant Dowie [the manager] could sneak away with a rye smile.' I hope he wiped the crumbs from his lips first."