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About This Quiz
Don't be too hard on yourself if you've ever mixed up a couple of similar-looking, sounding or tasting things. It's often not easy to tell them apart. Does anyone really know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile? Or a hurricane and a cyclone? You're about to learn with this quiz.
You're standing in a marsh and a scaly reptile is looking at you. Its mouth is closed with no teeth visible, and it has a wide snout. Is this an alligator or a crocodile?
alligator
Crocodile snouts are more pointed than their gator counterparts. As a result, when a crocodile's mouth is closed, two bottom teeth on either side of its lower jaw stick out over the lip. Alligators show no teeth when their jaws are closed. Plus they hang out in freshwater marshes, while crocodiles prefer saltwater.
crocodile
Could be either, but I'm not going to stand around and wait to find out!
If the colors in a room look good together, you would say they ________________ each other.
compliment
complement
These words are often mixed up. "Complement" means things go well together or complete each other. "Compliment" is giving a polite expression of praise ("Your outfit looks great!").
Which of the following is NOT true of dolphins versus porpoises?
Dolphins have longer noses and bigger mouths than porpoises.
Dolphins have a triangular dorsal (back) fin, and porpoises have a curved fin.
The dolphin's curved fin is one way to distinguish it from a porpoise. But they're both super smart.
Dolphins like to "talk" more than porpoises.
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What's the difference between Scotch and bourbon?
Scotch comes from Scotland and bourbon comes from the U.S.
Bourbon is made from corn, while Scotch is made from barley.
Both are correct.
Both are whiskeys (or whiskies), but Scotch must be made in Scotland and from malted barley. Bourbon must be made in the U.S. (not necessarily Kentucky) from a grain mixture that is at least 51 percent corn.
True or False: Brown eggs are better for you than white eggs.
True: They're more nutritious.
False: There's no nutritional difference.
Brown eggs are more expensive than white eggs, but their nutritional value is the same. The quality of an egg is based on the environment and nutrition enjoyed by the hen in question. Generally, white hens lay white eggs, and brown hens lay brown eggs.
That hasn't been determined yet.
What's the difference between a hurricane, a typhoon and a cyclone?
Hurricanes can spawn cyclones but not typhoons.
Typhoons have 10 times the velocity of hurricanes and 5 times that of cyclones.
Nothing, they are different names for the same type of storm.
It's all based on geography. The storm is called a hurricane if it's located in the Northeast Pacific or Atlantic, a typhoon in the Northwest Pacific, and a cyclone in the Indian Ocean and South Pacific.
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People often mix up sweet potatoes and yams. What does the flesh of a yam look like?
orange and moist
dry and white
A lot of people refer to yams and sweet potatoes interchangeably, but they're actually two different things. True yams hail from the Caribbean and have a dry, white flesh, whereas sweet potatoes are typically orange.
It can be white, orange or even purple.
Both involve cooking something in a hot oven but what's the main difference between baking and roasting?
Roasting involves cooking something that already has a structure, like meat. Baking involves cooking something without a structure, like a cake.
Roasting is typically done with solid foods like meats and veggies, whereas baking is done with foods that don't have structure in the beginning, like cakes.
If you have to baste it, you're roasting. If not, you're baking.
It's just semantics — there is no difference.
You're getting ready to leave one country to live in another. What are you about to do?
immigrate
emigrate
You emigrate from somewhere, but once you're settled permanently in your new locale you can say that you "immigrated." When a person or animal migrates they're just going to a different area of the same country.
migrate
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You Got:
/10
Phil Copp/Arto Hakola/Getty Images