Alternate vs alternative
Alternate is about taking turns, as day and night alternate, or a class on alternate Mondays. Alternative is about choice, like a cheaper alternative or an alternative plan.
Alternate ends in -ate, like rotate, and both are about taking turns.
alternate verb
To take turns, with one thing happening or being used after another, again and again.
- All week, sunny mornings alternated with rainy afternoons.
- She alternates between running and swimming to rest her knees.
alternative noun
Another choice you can pick instead of something else.
- If the train is full, the bus is a good alternative.
- Renting a car seemed a sensible alternative to buying one.
Watch out
- In American English, alternate before a noun can also mean another possible choice, so an alternate route and an alternative route both work. In British English, use alternative here.Signs sent drivers to an alternate route around the closed bridge.
- Mainly in American English, alternate can also be a noun for a person chosen ahead of time to take someone's place if needed.The convention seated an alternate when one of the delegates fell ill.
- Before a noun, alternate can also mean every other one. On alternate days means one day on, the next day off, and so on.We take turns cooking on alternate nights.
Test yourself
Rainy days blank with sunny ones all spring.
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alternate. The days take turns, one after the other. That is the verb alternate.
With the road closed, we had no blank but to walk home.
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alternative. The blank means another choice. Walking was the only choice left.
Color blank squares red to make a checkerboard.
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alternate. Here alternate means every other one: color one square, skip the next, and so on.
The singer and the choir blank verses all through the song.
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alternate. They take turns singing, one verse after the other. That is the verb alternate.
Full entries: alternatealternative