[Image credit: Stuart Miles]
Compliment and complement are two words that can confuse even me. The definition of compliment is an expression of praise, admiration or congratulations; whereas, complement means something that completes, makes up a whole or brings to perfection. An easy way for me to remember which spelling to use in my sentence is to think about taking the initiative to praise someone. If I am personally telling someone he or she did a great job or is looking nice, for example, then I use the word with the “i” in it (compliment). For instance: Her execution of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony deserved a compliment. Otherwise, something that makes a person or thing look good, completes or perfects it, uses the word complement; i.e., It was easy to see that the couple’s individual strengths complemented each other.
How do you remember which word to use in your sentence?
Always The Write Time Blog 
Sep 29, 2012 @ 12:38:11
This is my favorite common, mis-spelled word (I’m sure that sounds crazy).
This example is one of the ones I just “know” although I really have to think about which form to use with other words. The examples I always use when explaining this difference is “bread and butter” and “coffee and cream” being complements.