What’s the difference between desert and dessert?

This week we are looking at two words which are commonly confused because of their similar spellings: desert and dessert.

desert

image showing sandy desert

Desert can be both a noun and a verb.

As a noun:

A desert is a large area of land where there is very little water or rain, no trees, and very few plants.

They crossed the Sahara Desert.

As a verb:

When people or animals desert a place, they all leave it.

Some farmers are deserting their fields and coming here looking for jobs.

If you desert someone, you leave them and no longer help or support them.

All our friends have deserted us.

dessert

lots of desserts

Dessert is sweet food served at the end of a meal.

For dessert there was ice cream.

Find out more in our English Usage article.

This blogpost is based on Collins COBUILD English Usage, written for learners of English. For more examples of English usage points, please visit:  https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/english-usage.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

Related Articles

Other Articles

Parts of speech

A verb tells us about an action or a state of being. Ordinary verbs are called main verbs. A main verb is sometimes called a ‘doing word’. come go think want economize believe  A special group of verbs are called auxiliary verbs. These can be put together with main verbs to form different tenses. I am thinking. She has seen the film already. Read More

‘and I’ or ‘and me’?

When two pronouns or a personal noun and a personal pronoun are the joint subject of a verb, the subject form of the pronouns must be used. Avoid the common mistake of saying, for example, ‘Jerry and me are…’ or ‘Me and Jerry are…’ Jerry and I are going to paint the… Read More

Reported speech

When you use reported speech, the words put into the reported clause do not exactly match the words spoken. ‘I’ll leave at 8.30 on Friday.’ à She says that she will leave at 8.30 on Friday. ‘I’m looking forward to seeing you.’ à She says she’s looking forward to seeing us. Pronouns and possessive… Read More