Carat is a unit for weighing gemstones and for stating how pure gold is, while carrot is the orange vegetable, and also a reward that persuades someone. Memory hook: carrot has the double R, and you can eat it; carat is the one on a diamond ring.
The core difference
Carat measures gems and gold; a carrot is a vegetable or an incentive.
- carat — a unit of weight for gemstones, and a measure of gold purity: The engagement ring featured a two-carat diamond.
- carat in gold — a scale of 24 parts: The necklace was made from 18-carat gold.
- carrot — the root vegetable, or a reward: She chopped carrots into the stew.
How to tell them apart
If you are talking about jewellery, use carat. A carat is exactly 200 milligrams when weighing gemstones, and in gold it is a scale out of 24 parts, so 24-carat gold is the purest.
If you are talking about food, or about a reward dangled to persuade someone, use carrot. The phrase carrot and stick describes offering a reward alongside a threat. The mix-up shows up in listings and product descriptions, where a diamond is sometimes described as a carrot by mistake. It is carat for anything precious.
