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COMPLEMENT/COMPLIMENT |
Originally these two spellings were used interchangeably, but they have come to be distinguished from each other in modern times. Most of the time the word people intend is "compliment": nice things said about someone ("She paid me the compliment of admiring the way I shined my shoes."). "Complement," much less common, has a number of meanings associated with matching or completing ("my new yellow socks complement my orange shoes"). Remember, if you're not making nice to someone, the word is "complement."