The pair accept and except trips people up because the spellings feel close and the sounds can blend in fast speech. The clean separation is meaning: taking or agreeing lives with accept, while excluding lives with except.
- Part of Speech accept verb
- Part of Speech except preposition / conjunction (and a formal verb)
- Core Idea yes vs not including
Accept: Meaning and Grammar
Accept is a verb used for receiving something offered or agreeing to something proposed. It also covers treating an idea as true, reasonable, or normal in context.✅Source
In real writing, accept often sits right before a thing you can “take” in an abstract sense: an offer, an invitation, a rule, an apology, or a fact.
Common Accept Patterns
- ✅ accept an offer / an invitation
- ✅ accept payment (cash, cards, transfers)
- ✅ accept responsibility / the consequences
- ✅ accept that something is true
- ✅ be accepted into a group, school, or program
Meaning Examples
- They accepted the offer after a short call.
- The store doesn’t accept checks, only cards and cash.
- Over time, he accepted the change as normal.
- Her application was accepted by the program.
Except: Meaning and Grammar
Except signals an exclusion: it means “with the exception of” or “not including.” It can act as a preposition, a conjunction, and (in more formal writing) a verb meaning “to exclude.”✅Source
The key idea behind except is subtracting one thing from a larger set. The sentence stays “mostly true,” with one carve-out that gets named.
How Except Functions in Sentences
- Preposition (most common): “Everyone was ready except Jordan.”
- Conjunction: “I’d go, except it’s too far.”
- Verb (formal): “Children were excepted from the study.”
Except in Everyday Lines
- ✅ Open daily except Mondays.
- ✅ Everyone agreed except one person.
- ✅ Nothing changed except the schedule.
Common Swap Errors
- ❌ “We except credit cards.” (Meaning is take as payment, so it’s accept.)
- ❌ “All items are free accept the premium one.” (Meaning is excluding, so it’s except.)
Why They Get Mixed Up
Visually, accept and except share the same -cept ending, so your eyes may skip the first letters. In sound, the opening syllables can feel close, especially when the focus is on the final “-sept” beat.
There’s also a neat history clue: accept ultimately traces back to Latin roots tied to taking or receiving, which lines up with how the verb behaves today.✅Source
Except and Except for: Where Each Form Appears
Except and except for often point to the same exclusion, but the rhythm differs. Except for is especially common when the exception is a full phrase or when the sentence benefits from a slightly more explicit structure.✅Source
Except
- ✅ Everyone was here except Mina.
- ✅ The shop is open daily except Sundays.
Except for
- ✅ Everything was ready except for the labels.
- ✅ The plan worked except for one timing issue.
A related structure is except that, where that introduces a full clause and the word acts like a conjunction. Example: “I’d join, except that the timing doesn’t work.”
Accept vs Except in Common Phrases
In fixed phrases, accept tends to sit next to a thing received (offer, apology, responsibility), while except tends to sit next to a thing excluded (a person, a day, a category).
Accept Phrases
- accept an offer
- accept an invitation
- accept payment
- accept an apology
- accept responsibility
Except Phrases
- except Monday
- except for the last step
- everyone except one person
- nothing except water
- all except the premium tier
Accept vs Except: Side-by-Side Table
| Word | Typical Role | Core Meaning | Common Frame | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| accept | verb | receive / agree | accept + noun / accept that + clause | They accepted the offer. |
| except | preposition (often) | excluding / not including | except + noun phrase | Open daily except Sundays. |
| except | conjunction | one condition blocks the statement | except (that) + clause | I’d join, except it’s too late. |
| except | formal verb | to exclude from a set | be excepted from + noun | Children were excepted from the sample. |
FAQ
Are “accept” and “except” both correct words?
Yes. Accept is a verb that carries receiving or agreeing. Except introduces an exclusion from a group, rule, or statement.
Can “except” be a verb?
It can, but it’s more formal. In that role, except means to exclude, often seen as “excepted from.”
Is “accept” ever used to mean “except”?
No. Accept stays in the lane of agreement and receiving. Except stays in the lane of not including.
What does “except that” mean?
Except can act like a conjunction before a clause. “Except that” introduces the one condition that blocks the previous statement.
Why do they look so similar?
They share the -cept ending, which makes them visually easy to swap. The opening letters do the heavy lifting: ac- aligns with accepting, while ex- naturally points to excluding.