Another pair of commonly confused words is complementary and complimentary.
Complementary, with an E, means “serving to fill out or complete,” such as when one piece of clothing complements another. Similarly, as you may remember from elementary school art class, colours that are opposite each other on the colour wheel, such as red and green, are called complementary. Meanwhile, in math class, two angles that add up to 90 degrees are also called complementary. In each case, things work together to balance each other out or complete each other.
Complimentary, with an I, has two meanings. One refers to saying something nice about someone or something – giving them a compliment. The other refers to a free product or service, such as a complimentary breakfast.
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