The words “draw” and “drawer” look and sound alike. However, they are used in different ways, so you won’t want to mix them up in your writing. To learn how to use them correctly, check out our guide below.
“Draw” can be either a verb or a noun, so we will start with its uses as a verb. The most important meanings in this case include:
This is not a definitive list! However, it does cover some of the most common uses. And you can see how many definitions “draw” has as a verb.
Luckily, “draw” has fewer uses as a noun! The key definitions are:
As you can see, all of these are related to definitions of “draw” as a verb from above: e.g., in a lottery, you might “draw” (meaning “take out”) the winning numbers, while an attraction can “draw” a crowd.
The word “drawer,” meanwhile, is always a noun. It has two main meanings.
The first is a compartment in a piece of furniture. In a chest of drawers, for example, the “drawers” are the parts that move in and out – in other words, it is the part you draw or pull from the rest of the piece of furniture:
I keep spare pens in my desk drawer.
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“Drawers” can also mean “underpants,” but this is fairly old-fashioned. In the song “Look at Me, I’m Sandra Dee” from Grease, for example, Rizzo sings:
Keep your filthy paws off my silky drawers.
This usage originated from old-fashioned undergarments, which featured two separate legs that you would put on by “drawing” them up and tying them in place. This is also why we still use plural terms, such as “pants” or “trousers,” to refer to clothing that covers our legs!
While “draw” and “drawer” look and sound similar, they are different:
If you find these words tricky, don’t worry: just remember that “drawers” always refers to a piece of furniture or old-fashioned underwear, then you can use “draw” for everything else.
And if you’d like some help to check your word choice, or any other aspect of your writing, we have a team of expert editors available 24/7.
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