Easily Confused Words: Latter Vs. Ladder - Kathleen W Curry

Latter and ladder are easily confused words.

The spell-check application of most word processing software programs would not catch a slip-up of these two words. Spell-check is looking for words that aren’t in its dictionary, and words that resemble words in its dictionary, but are possibly spelled wrong. Spell-check isn’t perfect. It doesn’t know and can’t guess what word you wanted, or what word you meant, it can only judge the words on the page. If you used words that are all spelled correctly, it gives you a pass anyway.

Autocorrect suggests words that start with the same letters. It’s suggesting what word you may want to save time, but quite often, its suggestions are pretty off base. They don’t help you out, but they do make you laugh.

Ladder (pronounced “l-add-uhr”) is a noun. It means a climbing tool typically made of wood or steel. It is made of two long parallel bars with horizontal bars in between used as climbing steps. Some ladders lean against a structure to enable a stable surface for climbing.

Others, like folding ladders used for painting a house or wall. They are self-supporting, and look like a capital letter A.

Latter (pronounced “l-at-uhr”) is an adjective. When someone offers you two choices, the first one can be referred to as “the former,” and the second one is “the latter.” In a list of more than two choices, the last one can also qualify as “the latter.”

The following story uses both words correctly:

Lattimore called to his partners, Latisha and Lana:  “I need a nail gun and a ladder, guys.”  They were spending a Saturday working on the latest Habitat for Humanity project.

“Which do you need first, Lat?”

“I need the ladder. You know, the latter choice?”

“You’re full of dad jokes, did anyone ever tell you that?” 

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