Stationary vs. Stationery – How to Use Each Correctly

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Stationary vs. Stationery – What’s the Gist?

These two English homophones are so similar that it’s likely people don’t realize that this pairing has two different spellings and two entirely different meanings.

  • Stationary is an adjective.
  • Stationery is a noun.

Because these words have two distinctive sentence functions, that helps keep them straight. There will be more on these differences later.

stationary versus stationery

How to Use Stationary in a Sentence

Stationary definition: As an adjective, the word stationary modifies nouns or pronouns, and it means fixed in place; or immobile; or unchanging.

For example:

  • The young mom enjoyed exercising on her stationary bike. (Adjective)
  • After surgery, his leg needed to be in a stationary position. (Adjective)
  • According to the Christian faith, the character of God is stationary. (Adjective)

Two of the examples above have the adjective stationary in the attributive position, meaning that it comes before the noun it describes. The last sentence has stationary as a predicate adjective, meaning it comes after the verb and modifies the subject of the sentence. In this example, the word character functions as the subject.

How to Use Stationery in a Sentence

Stationery definition: More a relic from the past, stationery is a noun which means materials for writing or typing; or having matching paper and envelopes for writing letters.

For example:

  • The business stationery was embossed with the company’s logo on high quality paper. (Noun)
  • Traditionally, the first anniversary is called the paper anniversary where couples used to exchange paper items like stationery. (Noun)
  • For her upcoming birthday, the little girl asked for stationery. (Noun)

In spite of the ubiquitous use of electronic communication, stores still sell stationery and people still correspond on stationery.

Outside Examples of Stationary vs. Stationery

  • The latch movement is controlled by a lever or knob on the handle, and the keep is stationary. –Las Vegas Review-Journal
  • About 2:30 p.m., radar indicated heavy rain was nearly stationary over Leeward Oahu, affecting the area from Makua Valley to Waianae to Makakilo. –Honolulu Star-Advertiser
  • “Check the stationery submitted to us last week against your stationery in 2015 and 2016,” Holm wrote in one email obtained by The Republic via a public-records request. “They are different.” –The Arizona Republic
  • Greeting card and stationery retailer Papyrus is closing all 254 of its stores including three in Greater Cleveland. –The Plain Dealer

Phrases That Use Stationary and Stationery

There are several phrases that use the word stationary or stationery, including:

Stationary front: A weather phenomenon where the front stops moving for a period of time.

  • The stationary front caused the weather to be pleasant.

Stationary bike: An immobile bike that uses pedals to rotate a front wheel for the purpose of exercising inside.

  • The athlete looked for an available stationary bike at the gym.

Stationery seller: A person who sells stationery and office products.

  • Wanting to correspond with her friends, the woman went to a stationery seller looking for writing materials.

Personalized stationery: Tailored writing paper created for written communication for personal or business purposes.

  • The attorney wanted personalized stationery for formal correspondence.

How to Remember These Words

A helpful mnemonic device is focus on the one letter difference found toward the end of these words.

Something that is in a fixed place is always the same. The words always, the same, and stationary all share the letter a.

On the other hand, you write on stationery. Both write and stationery share the letter e.

Quiz: Stationary or Stationery

  • Looking to buy notebook paper, the student when to a place that sells _______.
  • Her weight had remained _______ for the last twenty years.
  • The posted classroom expectations were _______.
  • The boy was embarrassed to receive perfumed _______ at camp.

Article Summary

Is stationary or stationery correct? Because these words are close in spelling and sound exactly alike, it is easy to confuse the two.

Keep their sentence function in mind and that will further ensure that you have the right word. If you are looking for something that describes a noun, pick stationary. If you want a noun, choose stationery.

Furthermore, sitting down to write a letter on stationery is a stationary position.

  • Stationary is an adjective.
  • Stationery is a noun.

Quiz Answers

  1. Stationery.
  2. Stationary.
  3. Stationary.
  4. Stationery.