A desert [ˈdezət] is a dry area of sand or rock with very little rain: the Sahara Desert, a hot sandy desert. It isn't the sweet course at the end of a meal: that's dessert, with a double s and the stress on the second syllable. The words differ by just one letter, so they're easy to confuse in writing.
desert: will you get the meaning right?
Write a sentence — we'll check that the word fits the meaning and explain any mistakes.
The check is taking longer than usual. Your feedback will appear here automatically.
a hot/sandy + desert; in the desert; the Sahara/Gobi Desert; a deserted + street/beach; for dessert (not desert)
- We spent two nights in a camp in the desert and saw more stars than ever before.
- It hardly ever rains in the desert, so always carry more water than you think you need.
- The Gobi Desert can be freezing in winter, so pack warm clothes if you go in January.
What changed
First versionFor desert we had chocolate cake with ice cream.
RevisionFor dessert we had chocolate cake with ice cream.
The two words are spelled almost the same, so it's easy to write desert when you mean something sweet. But desert is a dry, sandy place, so the sentence sounds as if the cake was served for the desert. The sweet course is dessert. A well-known memory trick: dessert has two s's because you always want a second helping.
Desert can also be a verb meaning “to leave or abandon”, and then the stress falls on the second syllable, just like dessert. More common is the adjective deserted, meaning empty, with no people around: At six in the morning, the beach was completely deserted.
Your turn
The waiter took our plates and asked if we'd like to see the ___ menu.
Show the answer
dessert — The waiter has taken the plates and is offering something sweet, so it's the dessert menu. A desert is a dry, sandy place, and restaurants don't bring a menu of deserts.
Write about a desert you have seen or would like to see. Name it and say what attracts you to it.
I'd love to visit the Wadi Rum desert in Jordan because its red rocks look like the surface of Mars.
Learn to use new words without mistakes
Write phrases with the words you are learning. LetsWords shows mistakes in usage and grammar, suggests corrections and explains them, and review helps the words stick.