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The difference between ‘another’, ‘other’ and ‘different’

The difference between ‘another’, ‘other’ and ‘different’

September 25, 2014 By Nestor 14 Comments

Many learners of English confuse the words another, other and different. They often use another instead of different, and other instead of another. In this post, I’m going to clarify the differences for you.

another vs. different

The words another and different are very similar in meaning and they can often be used interchangeably.

I don’t like this restaurant. I want to go to another restaurant.
I don’t like this restaurant. I want to go to a different restaurant.

However, the word another also means ‘one more’. In this meaning, we cannot use different:

The lesson hasn’t finished yet. We have another hour.

Another difference is that the word different can be used with a plural noun. The word another cannot be used with a plural noun:

These are different times.

There is a small subtle difference between another and different, which could be confusing for many learners. The word different means that something is ‘not the same’. The word another means ‘some other’:

Let’s meet another time. (= some other time)
Let’s meet a different time. (= not the same time that we arranged)

In the above example, the difference is very subtle. It is a question of feeling the most suitable word to use in the context. However, we cannot use another without a following noun. We can only say different:

Jane isn’t like her sister. She’s different.

another vs. other

The words another and other mean the same thing, except that another is used with a singular noun and other is used with uncountable and plural nouns:

She’s going to the cinema with another friend.
She’s going to the cinema with other friends.

However, when we are talking about one of two things of the same type, the word other can be used with the article the or a pronoun (my, you, his, her, etc.) before a singular noun, for example:

For a change, let’s go to the other cafe today.
Don’t buy that phone. Buy the other one.
“Is that his younger sister?” “No, that’s his other sister.”

Filed Under: Confusing words in English

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. studenttt3 says

    November 24, 2014 at 2:46 pm

    Thank you very much, so very much indeed!!!!

    Reply
    • Henry says

      October 27, 2017 at 7:24 am

      Thanks so much, your explanation really helped me to understand the differences of these words. I really appreciate it.

      Reply
  2. peter says

    March 22, 2016 at 8:08 pm

    Thank you very much for helping us understand confusing word.

    Reply
  3. Irma says

    November 24, 2017 at 3:55 pm

    Thanks . This article really help me a lot

    Reply
  4. Ehab says

    January 18, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    This is a very excellent explanation. I learned another thing, at a different website that has been helpful for me and for other people. Thanks a lot.

    Reply
  5. mukesh says

    January 20, 2018 at 4:33 am

    To a great extent , it will be worth reading for pre intermediate students. Thanks.

    Reply
  6. Paolo says

    February 7, 2018 at 9:36 pm

    Very helpfull article

    Reply
  7. Sreten says

    February 24, 2018 at 4:29 pm

    Thanks for the explanation but I think “other” can be used with singular countable nouns when there are two things or a pair. For example, “Are you going on vacation to your house on the beach? No, I going to my other house I have in the mountain.”

    Reply
    • Nestor says

      September 2, 2018 at 6:40 pm

      Yes, you’re right! Thanks for pointing that out. I’ve updated the explanation.

      Reply
  8. ashu rajput says

    March 11, 2018 at 6:43 am

    Thanku very helpful artical

    Reply
  9. refugee says

    August 16, 2018 at 11:31 am

    that’s really helpful

    Reply
  10. James says

    September 1, 2018 at 12:41 pm

    What about “Don’t go to that store. Go to the other store.” In this example, other is used with a singular and countable noun.

    Reply
  11. JayL says

    May 18, 2019 at 5:35 pm

    Thank you for the posting.
    But “However, we cannot use another without a following noun. We can only say different” is not true. We can use `another` as a pronoun, sometimes. For example, we can say “I love this piece of cake. I think I’ll have another.”

    Reply
  12. Fine & Fast says

    May 11, 2021 at 10:18 pm

    James, but your sentence is wih “the other”. See the examples: That girl right there is my sister; THE OTHER is my mom. / I don’t like this red dress, I want THE OTHER one.

    Reply

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