✅ A groove is an indentation or furrow, usually cut or worn into a hard surface (The wheels wore a groove in the floorboards).

✅ A rut is a furrow worn into the ground, usually by vehicles or a lot of foot traffic (The path through the forest was just a rut in the ground).

✅ Groove and rut are also words for set routines that occur in your life.

✅ Groove is generally positive, whereas rut is generally negative (I’m getting back in the groove after my vacation; I feel like I’m stuck in a rut).

✅ Combine means to mix or unite things together into a whole (Combine flour and butter in a bowl).

✅ Blend means to mix things together until they become smooth or inseparable (Her work blends classic and modern styles).

✅ Both of these terms mean to mix things together, but they differ on exactly how to do that.

✅ Combine can mean to mix things together just enough that they form one mass, whereas blend suggests mixing things together completely, with no lumps or unmixed parts.

✅ A liar is a person who says things that are untrue with the intention of deceiving others (The politician was accused of being a liar).

✅ A fabulist is a liar or a person who invents and then tells fables (Don’t listen to him, he’s a fabulist).

✅ Both of these terms refer to people who speak falsely.

✅ Fabulist is a less common term and emphasizes telling untrue stories rather than making misleading statements.