An ax and a chisel are tools used to hew — that is, to chop or shape a material such as wood or stone. But a paintbrush and a palette are tools that can help an artist get just the right hue — a color or shade of color.

Different groups of Native Americans did a lot of hewing in the past. They hewed farming tools, weapons, and utensils from materials like wood, stone, or animal bone. The Oneonta and Dakota Indian tribes still hew canoes called "dugouts" from tree trunks. And then there are the totem poles hewed from red cedar trees by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast! In the 1700s and 1800s, many American settlers built homes from hand-hewn logs. Another, completely different meaning of hew is "to stick to, or follow." If a student hews to a teacher's classroom rules, that student follows the rules. Here are examples of the correct uses of hew:

The floor was made of wide, thick slabs that Grandpa had hewed from the logs with his ax. (Little House in the Big Woods)

The newspaper does hew to some old-fashioned ways of doing things. (The New York Times)

Colors are hues, and every shade of a color is also a hue. The word hue comes from the Old English hiw, which meant "color, appearance, form, or kind." Hue is occasionally used as a verb, as in "to take on or infuse with color." Something might be described as richly hued or brightly hued. The word hue is also sometimes used more figuratively, to mean “type, character, or quality,” as in the phrase "political parties of every hue." In that sense, teachers may have heard excuses of every hue — from "My dog ate my homework" to "A squirrel stole my book!" Here are a few colorful examples of hue in the wild:

Devin was sitting in front of a bed of embers looking into its neon orange hue. (Healer of the Water Monster)

It's a surprise ending, a magnificent twist, one that casts new hues over the whole narrative. (Salon)

Coils of warmly hued yarn hung from the doorways. (The New York Times)

How can you remember the difference between these two three-letter words? In the alphabet, the letter w is next to the letter x: the letters go together, just like hew goes with ax. As for hue, think about how the British spelling of the word color has a letter u: colour.