wind / wind

 These are actually two different words with one spelling.

When the word refers to the movement of air, it sounds like "wind" (short "i" sound).

• The wind is blowing pretty hard today.
• It’s windy today. ("Windy" is an adjective.)
• There’s a lot of wind in the winter and the spring.
• The wind blew down a tree outside of our house.
• The wind is very strong.

If you pronounce the vowel with a long "i" sound, this word becomes "wind." When you turn something such as a watch, a timer, or a toy, you "wind" it (long "i" sound).

• I have to wind my watch.
• This watch needs to be wound. (passive infinitive)
• If you wind this toy, it will walk across the room.

The word "wind" is also used to describe roads, pathways, and directions–especially when something is not straight:

• The highway winds around the mountain.
• We wound our way through the forest.
• You’ll have to wind your way through this crowd to reach the front of the stage.

As an idiom, "wind up" means to finish in a location or a position:

• Because we took a wrong turn, we wound up in the wrong place.
• If you don’t study hard, you’ll wind up getting bad grades.
• Joe wound up going to law school to become a lawyer instead of medical school to become a doctor.

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This page was first published on August 30, 2012. It was updated on June 27, 2015.