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Excepting vs Accepting — What’s the Difference?

Excepting means excluding or leaving out. Accepting means receiving, agreeing to, or acknowledging something. The key difference: excepting removes something from a group, while accepting welcomes something in. These near-homophones have nearly opposite meanings, which makes confusing them particularly costly in professional writing.

Why Getting This Right Matters

Mixing up excepting and accepting is one of the most consequential word-pair errors in professional English because the two words convey opposite meanings. In a cover letter, writing “We are excepting your invitation” instead of “We are accepting your invitation” tells the reader you are rejecting rather than agreeing. In contracts and legal documents, swapping these words can reverse the meaning of an entire clause. And in business emails, even a single instance signals carelessness to colleagues, clients, and hiring managers who notice the details.

What Does “Excepting” Mean?

Excepting functions as a preposition meaning “excluding” or “with the exception of.” It removes an item or person from a larger group. “All employees must attend the training, excepting those on medical leave” means that people on medical leave are excluded from the requirement. The word signals a carve-out or an exclusion from a general rule.

As the present participle of the verb except, excepting can also appear in verbal constructions. “The policy applies to everyone, not excepting senior management” means that even senior management is included. The phrase “not excepting” is a formal way of saying “including even.”

Excepting derives from the Latin excipere, meaning “to take out” (from ex, “out,” and capere, “to take”). It is a formal word, more common in written English than in everyday speech. In casual conversation, speakers typically say “except” or “except for” rather than “excepting.” In legal and administrative writing, however, excepting remains standard for defining exclusions and exceptions.

In practice, excepting appears most frequently in formal written contexts: legal contracts (“all parties, excepting the guarantor”), policy documents (“all employees, excepting contractors”), and literary prose. In everyday conversation, speakers almost universally prefer “except” or “except for.” This register difference means that if you encounter excepting in the wild, it is likely in a document that demands precision — and confusing it with accepting in such a context can change the meaning of a legal clause or policy statement entirely.

What Does “Accepting” Mean?

Accepting is the present participle of the verb accept, meaning to receive willingly, to agree to, or to acknowledge as true. “She is accepting the job offer” means she is agreeing to take the position. “The store is not accepting returns this week” means returns are not being received. “He had a hard time accepting the diagnosis” means he struggled to acknowledge the truth of it.

As an adjective, accepting describes a person or community that is open and welcoming. “The neighborhood is very accepting of newcomers” means residents are tolerant and inclusive. This adjectival use is common in discussions about social attitudes, diversity, and personal relationships.

The word comes from the Latin accipere, meaning “to take to oneself” (from ad, “to,” and capere, “to take”). Notice the shared root capere with excepting: both words involve taking, but in opposite directions. Accepting takes something in; excepting takes something out. This etymological connection explains why the words look and sound similar while meaning different things.

Key Differences Between Excepting and Accepting

Direction. Excepting pushes something out of a group (exclusion). Accepting brings something into a group or into one’s possession or belief (inclusion). This directional contrast is the heart of the distinction.

Part of speech flexibility. Excepting most commonly works as a preposition (“everyone excepting John”). Accepting works as a verb form (“she is accepting the offer”) or an adjective (“an accepting community”). Both can be present participles of their respective verbs, but their primary roles in sentences differ.

Formality. Excepting is more formal than its alternative except or except for. Accepting is standard across all registers, from casual speech to legal documents. Writers sometimes reach for excepting to sound more formal, but if you find it awkward, except or except for work just as well in most contexts.

Confusion with “except” and “accept.” The excepting/accepting confusion is an extension of the more common except/accept mix-up. Except means to exclude; accept means to receive. Adding the -ing suffix does not change the core meanings. If you can distinguish except from accept, you can distinguish excepting from accepting.

Pronunciation. Excepting starts with “ek-SEP-ting.” Accepting starts with “ak-SEP-ting.” The initial vowel differs, but in rapid speech the sounds can blur together, which contributes to written errors.

The linguistic reason for confusion. This is a near-homophone pair with antonymous meanings — a particularly treacherous combination. Both words descend from the Latin root capere (to take), differentiated only by their prefixes: ex- (out) versus ac- (toward). Because the stressed syllable (“-CEP-ting”) is identical, the distinguishing sounds fall on the unstressed first syllable, where vowel reduction in natural speech makes /ɛk/ and /æk/ nearly indistinguishable. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary lists the except/accept pair among its top commonly confused words, and the -ing forms inherit that confusion in full.

Excepting vs Accepting — Examples in Context

Correct: All departments will be audited, excepting those that were audited last quarter. (Excluding.)

Incorrect: All departments will be audited, accepting those that were audited last quarter.

Correct: She is accepting applications for the internship program. (Receiving.)

Incorrect: She is excepting applications for the internship program.

Correct: Excepting weekends, the office is open every day. (Excluding weekends.)

Incorrect: Accepting weekends, the office is open every day.

Correct: He is finally accepting responsibility for the error. (Acknowledging.)

Incorrect: He is finally excepting responsibility for the error.

Correct: Not excepting the CEO, everyone must complete the compliance training.

Correct: The university is accepting transfer students for the fall semester.

Correct: Every team member contributed, not excepting the newest intern.

Correct: An accepting attitude toward different perspectives strengthens collaboration.

Incorrect: An excepting attitude toward different perspectives strengthens collaboration.

Correct: The warranty covers all components, excepting those damaged by misuse.

Correct: The school is now accepting late enrollment for the spring semester.

Correct: No one was left out, not excepting the part-time staff who had just started.

Professional email: “Thank you for accepting the revised timeline for the Q3 deliverables.” ✓

Common mistake: “Thank you for excepting the revised timeline for the Q3 deliverables.” ✗

Academic writing: “All variables were controlled, excepting ambient temperature, which fluctuated during trials.” ✓

Common mistake: “All variables were controlled, accepting ambient temperature, which fluctuated during trials.” ✗

Casual / social media: “Finally accepting that I’m a morning person now. Who even am I?” ✓

Common mistake: “Finally excepting that I’m a morning person now.” ✗

Job application: “I would be honored to join your team and look forward to accepting the responsibilities of the role.” ✓

Common mistake: “I look forward to excepting the responsibilities of the role.” ✗

Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The most frequent error is writing accepting when you mean excepting, particularly in sentences about exclusions. “Everyone passed, accepting Tom” should be “Everyone passed, excepting Tom” (or more naturally, “except Tom”). The test: does the sentence mean someone or something is being left out? If so, you need excepting (or except).

The reverse error also occurs. “We are excepting donations” should be “We are accepting donations.” If the sentence means receiving or welcoming something, you need accepting. Replace the word with “receiving” to test: “We are receiving donations” works, confirming that accepting is correct.

A third issue is using excepting where except would sound more natural. In everyday writing, “everyone except John” is simpler than “everyone excepting John.” Reserve excepting for formal contexts or when the participial form is grammatically required. Grammar tools for Google Docs can highlight these distinctions as you write.

In professional emails, this pair causes particularly embarrassing errors. Writing “We are excepting your proposal” when you mean “We are accepting your proposal” conveys the exact opposite of your intent — it implies you are rejecting or excluding the proposal rather than receiving it favorably. Before sending any high-stakes communication that uses either word, substitute “excluding” for excepting or “receiving” for accepting and confirm that the sentence still makes sense.

Another edge case involves the phrase “present company excepted,” a polite expression meaning “everyone except those here.” Some writers mistakenly write “present company accepted,” which changes the meaning to welcoming rather than excluding. The original idiom uses excepted — the past participle of except — to carve out an exception for the people present.

The #1 mistake pattern appears in sentences that begin with a general statement and end with a carve-out: “All staff [are invited / must attend / will be affected], accepting…” This structure almost always calls for excepting (or except), because the final clause removes someone from the group. The word “accepting” in this position reverses the logic of the sentence.

Non-native speaker angle: Speakers of Romance languages such as Spanish and Portuguese often struggle with this pair because their languages use cognates (exceptuar and aceptar) that are more phonetically distinct than the English versions. The reduced vowel contrast in English makes the first syllable almost inaudible in fast speech, removing the acoustic cue that keeps the words separate in other languages.

Quick Memory Trick

EXcepting = EXclude — both start with EX, and both mean to push something out. ACcepting = ACquire — both start with AC, and both mean to bring something in. When you see the word in a sentence, look at the first two letters: EX sends out, AC takes in. If something is leaving the group, you need the EX word. If something is arriving, you need the AC word.

Related Confused Word Pairs

Words with similar sounds and different meanings are a recurring challenge. Try these:

• Diction vs Syntax — two pillars of language that serve different purposes.
• Weather vs Whether — homophones that belong to entirely different categories.
• Cite vs Site — a set of homophones with academic and geographic uses.

FAQ

Is “excepting” the same as “except”?
They are closely related. Excepting is the present participle of the verb except and can function as a preposition meaning “excluding.” In most contexts, except or except for works just as well and sounds more natural.

Can “accepting” be an adjective?
Yes. “An accepting person” means someone who is open, tolerant, and welcoming. This adjectival use is common in discussions about social attitudes and community values.

How do I tell them apart quickly?
Ask: is something being excluded or received? Excluded = excepting. Received = accepting. The prefix helps: ex- means out, ac- (ad-) means toward.

Is “not excepting” a double negative?
No. “Not excepting” means “not excluding,” which translates to “including even.” “Everyone must comply, not excepting the director” means the director is included. It is a formal construction that emphasizes inclusion.

Why do people confuse these words?
They sound similar in rapid speech, share the Latin root capere (to take), and their base forms, except and accept, are among the most commonly confused word pairs in English. The similarity is both phonetic and etymological.