“The climatic scene drew applause.”
Confusables Entry 1368 / 1605 60-second read
Climactic vs. Climatic
Of a climax versus of climate.
The comparisoni
“The climactic scene drew applause — CLIMACTIC describes a climax. CLIMATIC describes climate.”
The ruleii
¶
CLIMACTIC = peak. CLIMATIC = weather.
CLIMACTIC has the C from CLIMAX (the K-sound carries through). CLIMATIC describes climate — temperature, rainfall. Spell-checkers don't catch the swap because both are real words.
Memory aidiii
Remember it like this
ClimaCTic has aCT.