The Wrong Word Entirely, # 10

Today's mangle is another of those pesky homonyms (but note in passing that the title of this series cries out for a comma):

Link: The Guardian/Observer, Your Problems with Anna Tims, 'instal'

The OED lists instal as a variant of install (v. 2), which means to pay by instalments. It also notes that the term is rarely found and is now obsolete, and lists only a single example, from 1679. It isn't the same word, or from the same etymological root, as the verb install (v. 1), which can mean to set in place or to invest with an office.

The related nouns follow the verbal spelling, thus instalment, which is still in use, for payments, and installment for being invested with an office, although being placed in position is denoted by the noun installation (which is also a viable variant for being invested with an office).

Oddly, Merriam-Webster lists instal as 'a chiefly British variant of install' (i.e., the obsolete word from OED v. 2).

Unless you're writing fiction set in the late seventeenth century and need a verb to describe someone making regular payments, it would probably be wise to set your spell-checker to replace instal with install.