As the owner of a stationery store that sells paper, invitations, note cards, imprinted napkins, greeting cards and such, it has surprised me over and over that so many people don't know the difference between stationery and stationary. I think we covered this in elementary school so I knew it long before I ever owned a stationery shop.

We sent out press releases when we relocated our store and even though we had spelled stationery correctly on everything we submitted, many of the newspapers and magazines spelled it incorrectly in their publications. Which brings me to proofreading, but that's another HubPage for a different day.

Here is the easiest way to remember how to spell "Stationery" as in paper, note cards, invitations, letterhead, envelopes, etc.:

Paper is spelled pap"er" -- stationery is spelled station"er"y.

The other kind of stationary refers to being immobile, unchanging. So don't be "stationary" -- learn how to spell "stationery!"