I recently came across an oddly worded sentence that made me realize that some people apparently confuse the words “proceed” and “precede”.
Although they sound similar when said quickly, they’re not homonyms. It’s easy to confuse them, but here are their meanings:
Proceed
To proceed means to go ahead with something. For example, “You’ve passed this checkpoint; proceed to the next line.”
Precede
To precede means to come before, as in “The countdown preceded the Orion spacecraft’s liftoff.” One way to remember the spelling is that it’s similar to “precedent”, which is a noun with a similar meaning.
Oh, and don’t forget: “precede” doesn’t have a double E spelling like “proceed’ does.
What words do you find people commonly confusing? Let me know in the comments below.
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