English can sometimes be a difficult language. Beside vs. besides and quite vs. quiet are examples of words sounding very similar but having very different meanings.

Beside vs Besides

In this case, the addition of the ending -s completely changes the meaning of the word. “Beside” means next to or near. The word besides can mean “in addition to” or “other than”.

In the following example: “The dog is beside the house.”, the word beside is used to describe where the dog is. If we would say “There is nothing in the garage besides the dog,” we would be using besides to mean “other than”.

A good rule of thumb when deciding beside vs. besides is to remember that the word “beside” can usually be replaced with the phrase “next to” without changing the meaning of the sentence. If “next to” does change the meaning of the sentence, “besides” is probably the correct word.

Quite vs. Quiet

Often regional accents make the pronunciation differences between “quite” and “quiet” virtually undetectable. Often this translates into confusion in the written forms as well.

“Quite” is used to clarify another word and often means “very” as in “He ran quite quickly.” or “That dress is quite lovely.” “Quite” is also occasionally used in conversation as a one word agreement.

“Quiet” is the absence or near absence of sound. “Please be quiet.” for example, would be a request to stop making noise. The phrase “Peace and quiet” is often used to describe a situation without any noisy distractions.

Once again, the correct choice between quite and quiet relies heavily on their use in the sentence. If the word seems to mean calm or noiseless, “quiet” is probably the word needed.