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“Cereal” or “Serial”

cereal / serial are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

cereal s·IH·r·iy·ah·l

  • noungrass whose starchy grains are used as food: wheat; rice; rye; oats; maize; buckwheat; millet.
  • nouna breakfast food prepared from grain.
  • adjectivemade of grain or relating to grain or the plants that produce it.

serial s·IH·r·iy·ah·l

  • nouna serialized set of programs.
  • adjectivepertaining to or composed in serial technique.
  • adjectivepertaining to or occurring in or producing a series.
  • adjectiveof or relating to the sequential performance of multiple operations.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“cereal”

  • Korey Coleman as Cereal Commander
  • …similar to fellow Quaker Oats cereal, Cap'n Crunch.
  • Quisp is a sugar-sweetened breakfast cereal from the Quaker Oats Company.
  • …systematic farming practices, engaged in cereal processing, brewed beer and baked…
  • …Scott described Ward's involvement in cereal advertising: "When the cereal company…
  • …Mohall (or possibly from Grain-0 cereal)
  • …relaunched as the "first Internet cereal".
  • Quake cereal was produced by the same…
  • …the progress of Britain's vegetable, cereal and fruit harvests.
  • …popular, as well as breakfast cereal, mixed with milk or yogurt…

“serial”

  • Originally published as a serial in the pages of Scary…
  • King of the Mounties (1942, Serial) as Boat Henchman (ch.
  • Serial (sambandhika) causation, in which dependent…
  • 2008: Flics (serial) de Olivier Marchal: Alex Baros
  • Serial numbers for basic colors 1996
  • Serial M******** Japan release: Made in
  • …glasses come packaged with a serial code that can be input…
  • Anderson pursues a vicious serial killer, only to become his…
  • …the executive producer of the serial The Young and the Restless.
  • …a scene from a daily serial Pootha Rekulu (Parody of Mogali…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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