They look almost the same, but one is sand and the other is cake.
- Desert is a very dry place, or a verb that means to leave someone behind.
- Dessert is the sweet food you eat at the end of a meal.
Desert: a dry place
As a noun, desert is a dry area with very little rain.
A camel can walk across the desert for days.
The Sahara is the biggest hot desert in the world.
It is said DEZ-ert, with the stress on the first part.
Desert: to leave
There is also a verb, desert, that means to leave someone or something behind, often when you should stay. It is said dih-ZURT.
A good friend will never desert you.
The streets were deserted at night.
This verb is said the same way as dessert, but it is spelled with one S.
Dessert: sweet food
Dessert is the sweet food you eat after the main part of a meal.
We had ice cream for dessert.
Would you like dessert?
It is said dih-ZURT, with the stress on the second part.
Easy way to tell them apart
Ask: am I talking about sand, or about sweet food?
- Dry place, or leaving someone? Desert, one S.
- Sweet food at the end of a meal? Dessert, two Ss.
💡 The OddLingo Trick
Dessert is twice as nice as desert.
The sweet one gets two Ss. Think of wanting seconds.
⚠️ Common mistakes
Sweet food? Use two Ss.
❌ We had cake for desert.
✅ We had cake for dessert.
A dry place? Use one S.
❌ The camel walked across the dessert.
✅ The camel walked across the desert.
Mind the stress.
❌ deh-ZURT (for the dry place)
✅ DEZ-ert (the dry place), dih-ZURT (the sweet food)
Good to know
These two words are not even related. Desert comes from Latin, from a word meaning to abandon. Dessert comes from a French word, and the English word is recorded from the middle of the 1500s.
The French word means "to clear the table". So the word first pointed to what came after the main meal.
💬 In a conversation
Sam: What is for dessert?
Mia: Sand cake.
Sam: Sand?
Mia: It is a desert dessert.
Sam: That is two Ss and one S.
Mia: Both of them are delicious.