Here’s a three-fer.

Gentle means to be nice, to be kind and soft and comforting.

Genteel means to be polite and respectable.

Gentile is a person who was not a Jew in Biblical times. Someone who was not of the monotheistic faith.

EXAMPLES

He was gentle when he brushed the tangles out of his daughter’s hair.

He was genteel in the way he introduced himself, but the gaze he gave her was anything but.

Paul welcomed Gentiles into the Jesus Movement.

Got it? Good!