Third Wednesday: Leavened vs. Leveled

So many English words have similar sounds that it’s easy to use the wrong one if you don’t pay attention.  This example illustrates the importance of knowing the meaning of every word you select.

“Past the ditch and the stubble of last year’s soybean crop, the field leavened out.”

 

Leavened – to make light, relieve, raise.  To make bread dough rise before and during the baking process through the use of a leavening agent such as yeast.

The leavened dough swelled to twice the size of the bowl.

During Passover, Jews are forbidden from eating leavened bread.

 

Leveled – adjusted to an even horizontal plane.  A relatively flat or even horizontal surface.

The gallery owner carefully leveled the new painting.

Last night’s tornado leveled an entire town.

 

Here’s another look at Leavened and Leveled.

Wrong:

He was afraid to fight the bully without a leavened playing field.

Fry bread is flat and thin because it is not leveled.

Right:

If you don’t have yeast, you cannot make leavened bread.

Once the carpenter leveled the countertop, my dishes stopped sliding to the edge.

Use a leveled tablespoon of yeast to make one loaf of leavened bread.

 

Need a memory trick to distinguish these words?  If you can roll something across its surface, roll that “l” into the word.  If you can eat it, drop in that “av” and savor the taste.