“I need to buy some stationary for the office.”
Confusables Entry 336 / 1011 60-second read
Stationary vs. Stationery
Not moving versus paper and writing supplies.
The comparisoni
“I need to buy some stationery for the office.”
More examplesii
01
We've run out of stationary in the supply room.
We've run out of stationery in the supply room.
02
The vehicle was stationery for over an hour.
The vehicle was stationary for over an hour.
03
She bought some lovely stationary for the thank-you notes.
She bought some lovely stationery for the thank-you notes.
04
She pedaled the stationery bike for 30 minutes.
She pedaled the stationary bike for 30 minutes.
05
Our branded stationary includes letterheads and notepads.
Our branded stationery includes letterheads and notepads.
06
A stationery object stays at rest unless a force acts on it.
A stationary object stays at rest unless a force acts on it.
The ruleiii
¶
STATIONARY = not moving, fixed in place (adjective).
Pronounced identically, differ only in the final vowel. There's no intuitive reason to associate each spelling with its meaning.
Memory aidiv
Remember it like this
StationEry has an E for Envelopes. StationAry has an A for stAying in place (not moving).