WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE?

A stack of gifts ... or are they presents?

What’s the Difference Between a Gift and a Present?

Those brightly wrapped packages we exchange around the holidays and other special occasions: Sometimes we call them “gifts,” sometimes “presents.” Is there a difference?

If they were in separate glasses without their cans, could you tell them apart?

What’s the Difference Between Diet Soda and Zero-Sugar Soda?

Are Diet Coke and Coke Zero really that different? Here are the differences and health factors in the diet soda vs. zero-sugar soda debate.

Elf vs. Gnome: What's the Difference?

These two tiny titans of folklore might appear similar, but they couldn't be more different.

Living Room vs. Family Room vs. Den: What’s the Difference?

You can binge Netflix in any room you like, but there are some key differences between these living areas.

Most of the time, though, it'll cost you.

The Easiest Places To Buy Citizenship Around the World

Looking to buy your way into citizenship? Discover the differences between golden visas and CIPs, plus which countries are easiest to get into right now.

Members of Robert Falcon Scott's 1910-1913 expedition to reach the South Pole.

Frostbite vs. Hypothermia: What’s the Difference?

Here's how to tell frostbite symptoms from hypothermia symptoms.

They are several differences between the two.

Tsunami vs. Tidal Wave: What’s the Difference?

Tsunamis and tidal waves may look similar, but they differ in crucial ways.

Are the flags flying for Memorial Day or Veterans Day? Sometimes, it's tough to say.

What’s the Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Both Memorial Day and Veterans Day are meant to celebrate military veterans, but there's one important distinction you should remember.

A 1920 mural by paleoartist Charles Robert Knight depicting Cro-Magnon people painting on cave walls at Font-de-Gaume, France.

Neanderthal vs. Cro-Magnon: What’s the Difference?

These prehistoric members of our genus, ‘Homo,’ occupy different branches of the human family tree.

Here are the differences between green onions or scallions (left) and chives (right).

Scallion vs. Chives. vs. Green Onion: What’s the Difference?

One of these things is not like the others.

Graveyard vs. Cemetery: What’s the Difference?

Both are places where we bury the dearly departed, and the words are often used interchangeably. But that hasn’t always been the case.

Looks like she's reading a novel, not a novella.

Novella vs. Short Story: What’s the Difference?

As Stephen King once said, novellas are “too long to be short and too short to be really long.”

Gourds (left) and squash (right) are similar, but one shouldn’t be eaten.

Gourd vs. Squash: What’s the Difference?

Matters become more confusing when you add pumpkins to the mix.

Linguine vs. Fettuccine vs. Spaghetti: What’s the Difference?

The three types of pasta are all long, but when and how you use them will make all the difference for your meals.

Shiitake mushrooms (left) are edible, while fly agaric (right) is extremely toxic, causing serious symptoms like dizziness, confusion, and hallucinations.

Mushrooms vs. Toadstools: What’s the Difference?

The definitions of toadstools and mushrooms are a bit intertwined.

The official beverage of fall (sorry, PSL.)

What's the Difference Between Apple Juice and Apple Cider?

They’re both fruit beverages, but apple juice and apple cider are not quite the same thing.

What’s the Difference Between Coconut Trees and Palm Trees?

You think you just fell out of a coconut tree? It may have actually been a different type of palm tree.

Squid vs. Cuttlefish: What’s the Difference?

The sophisticated cephalopods have highly evolved vision and can use jet propulsion to escape predators, but there are a few key differences between squid and cuttlefish.

What’s the Difference Between a Lake and a Pond?

The U.S. government has some ideas.

Grasshopper on the left, swarm of locusts on the right

Grasshoppers vs. Locusts: What’s the Difference?

All locusts are grasshoppers, but not all grasshoppers are locusts.

Centipedes and millipedes are actually quite different.

Millipedes vs. Centipedes: What’s the Difference?

They have many more legs than any arthropod should need, but millipedes and centipedes are different in almost every other way.

A major thunderstorm is about to blow over this vineyard.

Scattered vs. Isolated Thunderstorms: What’s the Difference?

Meteorologists convey the chance of cloud cover or rain in percentages, but what those numbers mean in the real world isn’t always clear—so you’ll often hear terms like ‘scattered’ and ‘isolated’ to describe thunderstorms.

This illustration features elements of both circuses and carnivals.

Carnival vs. Circus: What’s the Difference?

Although the line between the two is sometimes a little blurred, their origins are actually very distinct.

Alpacas vs. Llamas: What’s the Difference?

They’re both in the camel family and live in South America, but alpacas and llamas aren’t the same species.