Continuous and Continual
A trick to help you distinguish between these "tricky twins"
English speakers often fall afoul of tricky twins: pairs of words, such as principal and principle, that, while similar in sound, spelling, and ancestry, have come to mean slightly different things.
Recently, while struggling with a bit of translation for my other blog, I ran into one of the trickiest pairs of tricky twins that ever tricked, that of continuous and continual. Happily, the passing of a train inspired a mental image that will help people remember the difference between the two words.
Imagine, if you will, an el train, a rail-riding vehicle that gets its name from the elevated tracks upon which it travels. If all goes well, people will get off this train continually. That is to say, rather than occurring without interruption, the discharge of passengers only takes place at stations.
As a lover of language, word origins, etc., this is wonderful!