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Accept vs Except | Meaning, Examples & Worksheet

Accept vs Except | Meaning, Examples & Worksheet

Commonly Confused Words updated on December 6, 2023 2 min read

Accept and except are two words that sound similar, but they have different meanings.

Accept (pronounced [ak-sept]) means “approve or allow something” or “willingly receive.” It’s used as a transitive verb
Except (pronounced [ek-sept]) means “other than” or “not including” and is most often used as a preposition. It can also be used as a conjunction or verb.

You can remember that “except” means “excluding” with the mnemonic “they both start with ‘ex.’”

Examples: Accept in a sentence	Examples: Except in a sentence
I’m happy to accept the job offer.	I like all fruits except bananas.
Sandra did not accept John’s apology.	I would have gone to the park, except it started raining heavily.
Our company accepts and embraces diversity in the workplace.	He excepted his dad’s watch from the list of things to be sold at the auction

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When to use except

Except is often used as one of three parts of speech, namely a verb, a conjunction, or a preposition. Related variant forms are used as a conjunction, proposition, or noun.

The less common variant form excepting is used as a conjunction or preposition, but the use is perceived as formal and odd in conversational language.
The noun exception refers to something or someone who is excepted (i.e., excluded from a rule or general statement) or to the act of excepting itself. It can also be used in the formal phrase “take exception” (e.g., “Sarah took exception to the disrespectful comment during her speech”)

Part of speech	Use	Example
Preposition	Meaning “not included”	All students passed the exam except for John.
Verb	Exclude something	The chef excepted ingredients from the recipe to accommodate dietary restrictions.
Conjunction	To connect opposing phrases (instead of “but” or “only”)	He studied diligently, except when his favorite TV show was on.

When to use accept

Accept is always used as a verb, but it can have slightly different meanings:

To approve of something
To allow something
To tolerate or endure something
To willingly receive something

The related variant forms, “acceptance,” “acceptable,” “accepted,” and “accepting” can be used as different parts of speech:

The noun acceptance refers to the act of accepting someone or something.
The adjective acceptable describes something that’s suitable, tolerable, or satisfactory.
The past participle accepted and the present participle accepting can be used as verbs or participial adjectives.

Meaning	Example
To approve of something	The committee decided to accept the proposed changes to the project.
To allow something	The school’s policy does not accept late submissions for assignments.
To endure something	She had to accept the scorching heat during the summer months while working in the desert.
To receive something voluntarily	The charity gladly accepts donations from generous individuals who want to support their cause.

US vs UK	Parts of speech	Rhetoric
Gray vs grey	Action verbs	Metaphor
Judgment or judgement	Stative verbs	Simile
Favour or favor	Transitive verbs	Alliteration
Fulfil or fulfill	Verbs	Assonance
Labor or labour	Nouns	Malapropism

Frequently asked questions about accept vs except

What is a synonym for except?

Synonyms for the preposition (common), conjunction (uncommon), or verb (uncommon) except include:

Besides
But
Excluding
Other than
Aside from
Barring

You can find more synonyms with the QuillBot Paraphraser!

What is a synonym for accept?

Synonyms for accept (verb) include:

Endure
Support
Tolerate
Welcome (voluntarily)
Warrant
Yield to
Concede to

You can find more synonyms with the QuillBot Paraphraser!

What is an antonym for accept?

Antonyms of the word accept are:

Decline
Refuse
Deny

In these cases, someone will not accept something. For example, “Erin declined her boyfriend’s marriage proposal.”

Julia Merkus

Julia has master's degrees in Linguistics and Language and speech pathology. Her expertise lies in grammar, language and speech disorders, foreign language learning, and child language acquisition.

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