Nouns of Ambiguous Gender

Name a rule of Spanish grammar, and chances are you can come up with an exception — even the rule that says nouns are either masculine or feminine. While that's nearly always true, there are a few words that you'll hear used both ways. You'll hear both el Internet and la Internet for example, and even a very common word such as azúcar (sugar) is sometimes used as feminine and sometimes as masculine (white sugar can be either azúcar blanca or azúcar blanco). While researching for the lesson on ambiguous gender, I even came across real-life references to el azúcar refinada — figure that one out!