Carrot – Long, pointy. Traditionally orange. Good with Ranch dressing.
Caret – A proofreading mark to indicate that something should be inserted into the text. Also used in math as an exponent symbol, for example, e=mc^2.
Carat – A unit of mass for gemstones. One carat = 200 milligrams. “Carat” is one of the “four C’s” in diamond-buying, the other three being cut, clarity, and color.
Karat – A measure of purity for gold alloys. 24-karat gold (written 24K) is pure gold. 18K gold is 18 parts gold for every 24 parts of the alloy, that is, the alloy is 75% gold. Just to be extra confusing, some countries spell this word as “carat” too.
And you thought there/their/they’re was bad. Friggin’ English!
Brian D. Buckley 