Easily Confused Words: Realty Vs. Reality - Kathleen W Curry

Realty and reality 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.

Realty is a noun. It means a business that manages land or property, and the sale of that land or property. The person doing the selling belongs to a national real estate board and abides by that group’s ethics code is called a realtor. Persons selling who don’t belong to a board but do have a license to sell property are called real estate agents.

Reality  is a noun. It means day to day life in the present time. The political climate, the culture, your age, your income, your maturity, your health, all of that criteria feed into your experience of life right now. That collective experience is your reality. ‘

Reality can also be an adjective, such as in the phrase “reality TV.” Reality TV features characters using their real-life names and their real-life personalities in scripted situations. Often there is a contest or drama involved in the premise of the show. Television has capitalized on reality shows because they get ratings and cost far less than sitcom starring professional actors.

The following story uses both words correctly:

Rea had no idea what she wanted to do after high school, she just wanted to get a glimpse of reality but not work in fast food anymore. She would get a job as a secretary in a realty office. Within five years, she got a license to sell property. Within ten years, she was making an excellent living selling commercial properties. 

Share this:

• X
• Facebook
• Pinterest
• Tumblr
• LinkedIn
• Email

Related