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“Overdo” or “Overdue”

overdo / overdue 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.

Definitions

What each term means

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

overdo OW·v·er·d·UW

  • verbdo something to an excessive degree.

overdue OW·v·er·d·UW

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

Usage

Examples in context

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

“overdo”

  • in these stories to not overdo that impulse, to not throw

“overdue”

  • "The Rabbit are a band overdue a breakthrough, and fans of
  • bring the talks to an overdue close.
  • she said, "it was long overdue that Filipina women were recognized,
  • Champion team, received their long overdue recognition when the Venezuelan Baseball
  • market, and the increases were overdue.

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

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