ingenious or ingenuous?
Though spelled similarly, these two words have different meanings and so should not be used interchangeably. Ingenious means "inventive" and "cleverly effective": a famed researcher with an ingenious [not ingenuous] mind;an ingenious [not ingenuous] marketing strategy. By contrast, ingenuous means "innocently unworldly" and "being or seeming to be honest, candid, and direct": an ingenuous [not ingenious] young child;an ingenuous [not ingenious] answer to the reporter's hostile question.
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