Commonly Confused Words: Draw vs. Drawer

What does each word mean?

Draw describes the act of marking paper with pens and pencils and the act of pulling or dragging something. As a noun, draw can mean randomly selecting something, something that attracts people to an event, or an even score at the end of a game.

Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word.

Here is draw used in some example sentences:

Our teacher has asked us to draw self-portraits for Art.
The townspeople draw their water from a well.
Let’s draw names out of a hat to decide who will go first.
The library is one of the city’s biggest draws.
The football match ended in a draw.

Click here to find the Spellzone vocabulary lists related to the word draw.

A drawer is a boxlike container that slides in and out of a piece of furniture. The word is also an informal term for underwear.

Click here for the full Spellzone dictionary definition of the word.

Here is drawer used in some example sentences:

The scissors are in the kitchen drawer.
When she was a toddler, Emma’s grandmother thought it was funny to call her droopy drawers.

Click here to find the Spellzone vocabulary lists related to the word drawer.

Where does each word come from?

Draw has been used since around 1200 as an alternate spelling of the Old English ‘dragen’ meaning ‘to drag, to draw, protract’. The word has been used to mean ‘tie’ since 1610 and ‘attraction’ since 1881.

Drawer dates back to the mid-fourteenth century and gets its name from the verb draw in that it describes a box that can be drawn out from a cabinet.

Are there any tricks to help remember the difference between these words?

Think of the word drawer as the piece of furniture it describes: the first part of the word – draw – is the cabinet, and the er on the end is the box that is pulled out from it.

What words do you constantly mix up? Let us know and we’ll cover them in our Commonly Confused Words series.

Sources: The Online Etymology Dictionary.

26 Sep 2016
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Commonly Confused Words: Draw vs. Drawer

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