The three homophonescite, sight, and site are occasionally confused by some people when used as nouns (sight and site) or as verbs (all three words). They needn’t cause trouble: with a little thought, most people who struggle with them can settle upon the correct choice.
Cite is most often encountered in the sense of “to name in a citation”; it may also mean “to mention as an example” or “to order to appear in a court of law.“
Most of the senses of sight are concerned with the act or action of seeing. A wonderful spectacle might be described as a sight, as might the general capacity to see anything (“my sight is not as good as it once was”).
Site is most often concerned with location; it is related to the verb situate "to locate" and situation "a position." A building site is the place where the building is, or will be, located. In contemporary English, site has increasingly been used as a shortened form of website, for the location of a specific page on the Internet.
If you connect citation with cite, eyesight with sight, and situate with site, you are unlikely to make an error.
Noun Hard hats must be worn on the construction site. They visited the site of their future house. The company has chosen a new site for its office building. the site of the battle Federal investigators combed through the crash site.
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The 15-second video clip is among a number of videos that have popped up recently on the Chinese social media site Weibo and show what appear to be civilian-grade drones trolling Taiwan's military. Andrew Raine And Cnn's Beijing Bureau, CNN, 17 Sep. 2022 This site is protected by recaptcha Privacy Policy | Terms of Service Sue for peace? Phil Mccausland, NBC News, 16 Sep. 2022 The bakery offers many delicious options made on site including caramel apples, pies and fudge. Kori Rumore, Chicago Tribune, 16 Sep. 2022 Officials are expected to announce more details Friday on the burial site, which reports indicated could contain hundreds of bodies. María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post, 16 Sep. 2022 Proposed by Western National Properties, the development plans call for 15 three-story buildings to go on the 6.22-acre site, which is bordered by Union and Puebla streets and just west of Poinsettia Park. Barbara Henry, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Sep. 2022 The new plant is being built on the same site as the current facility, which will operate right up until the changeover. Holly Mullen, The Salt Lake Tribune, 15 Sep. 2022 Most of the St Andrews Links by TravisMathew collection is on the brand's site, but there are some products that can only be purchased at the course. John Thompson, Men's Health, 14 Sep. 2022 The full list of titles is available on RSD’s Web site, as is a breakdown of participating stores. Marisa Whitaker, SPIN, 14 Sep. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English, place, position, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French sit, site, from Latin situs, from sinere to leave, allow