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Understanding the difference between commonly confused words will help you avoid making errors in English usage. Let’s examine the difference between the following:
lend
Lend is a verb meaning to allow someone the use of something on the understanding it will be returned. It’s often used for financial transactions where money will be paid back with interest. Lend can also be used figuratively, in the sense of contributing or imparting something nonphysical such as a quality.
Bart was very kind to lend me his car while mine was being repaired.
A vase of fresh flowers lends a feeling of cheer to a room.
loan
Loan as a noun means an instance of lending, or the thing that is borrowed, usually money to be paid back with interest. It can also refer to the contract specifying the terms of repayment.
I took out a loan at the bank in order to buy a new car.
Loan is often used as a verb in American English to mean to lend money or property. British English still maintains a distinction between the two words, however, using lend for the verb and loan for the noun. Loan as a verb only refers to physical transactions, not figurative ones.
☛ If you’d like to remember to use lend as the verb form, here’s a tip. Think of the speech in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, which begins “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.” It would sound a bit odd to say, “loan me your ears,” wouldn’t it?
The words loan and noun both have the letter o in them, which should help you recall that loan is the noun form in British English.
Photo credits:
Photo 1: Image by Michal Jarmoluk from Pixabay
Photo 2: Image by Raten-Kauf from Pixabay