I used to do these every week, but now I do them when I have to stop and think about whether I am using the right word or see people using them interchangeably or using one when they mean the other. It’s been 18 months since my last (!) This is one that, until a few days ago, I’d been doing this wrong all my life.

Annex vs Annexe

Thanks to Grammarly, I now know the difference between the two and which to use in each circumstance. I previously assumed that they were the same thing – after all, the meanings are similar, but one is a noun and the other is a verb. It’s understandable that people get confused though. Here is the difference:

• Annex – to physically claim a portion of something as your own from somebody else, usually land in a political context. For example, two years ago Russia annexed Crimea following an uprising in the area fuelled by growing unrest
• Annexe – a seemingly separate building that shares a main entrance with the main building or one where the user must get through the main entrance in order to access it. This can be a house extension, but it’s usually a self-contained apartment within the same grounds