Hyphens to resolve ambiguity

Use a hyphen to distinguish between words such as re-creation and recreation.

Example sentence: Bicycling in the city is my favorite form of recreation.

Example sentence: The film was praised for its astonishing re-creation of nineteenth century London.

Hyphens can resolve similar ambiguities in such terms as re-form and reform, re-cover and recover, or co-op and coop.

Hyphens to separate double or triple letters

Hyphens are sometimes used to separate awkward double or triple letters in compound words (anti-intellectual, cross-stitch). Always check a dictionary for the standard form of the word.

Exercise: The hyphen