Recently at ESL Library we’ve been hard at work creating our second Detective Series. In one of the lessons, head writer Tara Benwell included an exercise on compliment and complement, and she pointed out how to tell them apart. I thought this pair of commonly confused words would also make a great blog post since English language learners might have a hard time keeping these homophones straight. (And to find out what homonyms, homophones, and homographs are, read the blurb at the end of this post!)

Compliment

Noun
Definition:	a positive remark, something nice that was said about someone or something
Examples:	He paid me a compliment on my dress this morning. She gave her boss a compliment about how well the meeting went.

Verb
Definition:	to say something nice about someone or something
Examples:	My teacher complimented me on my presentation. Their realtor complimented them on their interior design.

Complement

Noun
Definition:	something that matches or goes well with another thing
Examples:	This spicy sauce is the perfect complement to barbecued meat. Red wine is a well-known complement to red meat, and wine wine is a good complement to poultry and seafood.

Verb
Definition:	to match or go well with another thing
Examples:	I’m looking for a new chair that will complement the rest of my furniture. That shade of blue in your dress really complements your eyes.

Tara’s Trick

Think of the “e” in complement as “extra” (one thing complements another, extra thing).

Notes

Did you know that even the adjective and adverb forms of these two words look and sound the same?

Compliment (n, v)	Complement (n, v)
Complimentary (adj)	Complementary (adj)
Complimentarily (adv)	Complementarily (adv)

The meanings of the adjectives and adverbs are similar to the noun/verb meanings, but it’s worthwhile mentioning to students that another common meaning of the adjective complimentary is “free, no charge.” (E.g., Complimentary breakfast is served every day at the hotel.)

Homonyms, Homophones & Homographs

Homonyms are words that have the same pronunciation and/or spelling but different meanings, such as left (the opposite of right) and left (the past tense of leave). Homonyms include homophones and homographs.

Homophones are words with the same pronunciation but different meanings and/or spelling, such as to, too, and two.

Homographs are words with the same spelling but different meanings and/or pronunciation, such as bow (a position where one bends over at the waist) and bow (a wooden weapon that is used to shoot arrows).

Compliment and complement are homonyms. Specifically, they are homophones because they are both pronounced /ˈkɑm plə ˌmənt/ even though they are spelled differently and have different meanings.