Word Confusion: Ode versus Owed

Posted July 14, 2022 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

This particular ode was owed to me by another, and he’s finally paid up.

Ode is strictly a lyrical song. Well, unless you add a hyphen onto the front of it and make a combined form, which is still a noun.

Owed is a past tense or past participle for owe which is all about being under an obligation to pay for something, whether it be actual money, a favor, services, or one’s loyalty.

This word confusion ode vs owed is another heterograph (a subset of homophone).

You may want to explore “Oh versus Owe” as well.

Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noir for you from either end.

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Ode	Owed
Ode to Sun is Naukascisla‘s own work and under the CC BY 4.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.	Never was So Much Owed By So Many to So Few by Betsy Weber is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Flickr.
Part of Grammar:
Combined form ¹, ²; Noun ³ Plural for the noun: odes	Past tense or past participle of owe Verb, intransitive & transitive Third person present verb: owes Past tense or past participle: owed Gerund or present participle: owing
Combined form: Of the nature of a specified thing ¹ In names of electrodes, or devices having them ² Noun: A lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular ³ A poem meant to be sung	Verb, intransitive: To be in debt Verb, transitive: Have an obligation to pay or repay (something, especially money) in return for something received Owe something, especially money, to (someone) Be under a moral obligation to give someone (gratitude, respect, etc.) Be indebted to someone or something for (something) [Often followed by to] To have as a result (of) To hold or maintain in the mind or heart
Examples:
Combined form: I love geodes. The phyllode serves the purpose of the leaf. The diode has gone out. An anode is an electrode through which the conventional current enters into a polarized electrical device. This contrasts with a cathode, an electrode through which conventional current leaves an electrical device. Noun: Born in Watford, Herts, Fletcher started writing odes as a pupil at Friern Barnet Grammar, where he produced concerts. Dave, bless his warped soul, writes an ode to Neil Diamond that must be read to be believed. Every song on this record is an ode to some long-distance lost love. In Greek drama and in the works of Pindar, odes were sung by a chorus and performed with dance. Sports books are hardly a new phenomenon — the poet Pindar was writing odes to naked Greek athletes 25 centuries ago. Another Milton scholar present announced that while rhyme was no ornament to verse, the return of odes and sonnets was inevitable.	Verb, intransitive: He owed for the antipasti. He still owed on his house. Verb, transitive: They owed money to the company. He owed me fifty bucks. He owed her for the plane ticket. She owed it to him to explain what’s happened. He owed her an apology. She owed herself a rest. They owed their lives to him. He owed his fortune to his luck. She owed him payback for what he did.
Derivatives:
Adjective: odic	Adjective: owed Noun: owedness
History of the Word:
From the Greek adjectival ending -ōdēs. From the Greek hodós meaning way, road. Late 16th century, from the French, from the late Latin oda, from the Greek ōidē, from the Attic form of aoidē meaning song, from aeidein meaning sing.	Old English āgan meaning own, have it as an obligation is of Germanic origin from an Indo-European root shared by the Sanskrit īs meaning possess, own.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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