Commonly Confused Words - Oxford Dictionaries

3/10/2015 Commonly confused words - Oxford Dictionaries

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Take a look at these two sentences one of them contains a mistake:

I poured over book after book.

We pored over the catalogues.

Are you uncertain which one is right? There are a lot of words in English that look or sound alike but have very different

meanings, such as pore and pour or flaunt and flout. Its easy to get them confused and most electronic spellcheckers

wont be much help in this type of situation: they can tell you if a word has been spelled wrongly but they cant generally

flag up the misuse of a correctly spelled word.

Heres a quick-reference list of pairs of words that regularly cause people problems. The words follow the accepted

British English spelling. Some of them do have alternative American spellings and you will find these at the main

dictionary entry on this website.

Word 1 Meaning Word 2 Meaning

accept to agree to receive or do except not including

adverse unfavourable, harmful averse strongly disliking; opposed

advice recommendations about what to do advise to recommend something

affect to change or make a difference to effect a result; to bring about a result

aisle a passage between rows of seats isle an island

all together all in one place, all at once altogether completely; on the whole

along moving or extending horizontally on a long referring to something of great length

aloud out loud allowed permitted

altar a sacred table in a church alter to change

amoral not concerned with right or wrong immoral not following accepted moral standards

appraise to assess apprise to inform someone

assent agreement, approval ascent the action of rising or climbing up

aural relating to the ears or hearing oral relating to the mouth; spoken

balmy pleasantly warm barmy foolish, crazy

bare naked; to uncover bear to carry; to put up with

bated in phrase 'with bated breath', i.e. in great suspense baited with bait attached or inserted

bazaar a Middle Eastern market bizarre strange

berth a bunk in a ship, train, etc. birth the emergence of a baby from the womb

born having started life borne carried

bough a branch of a tree bow to bend the head; the front of a ship

brake a device for stopping a vehicle; to stop a vehicle break to separate into pieces; a pause

breach to break through, or break a rule; a gap breech the back part of a gun barrel

broach to raise a subject for discussion brooch a piece of jewellery

canvas a type of strong cloth canvass to seek peoples votes

censure to criticize strongly censorto ban parts of a book or film; a person

who does this

cereala grass producing an edible grain; a breakfast food

made from grainsserial happening in a series



chord a group of musical notes cord a length of string; a cord-like body part

climactic forming a climax climatic relating to climate

coarse rough coursea direction; a school subject; part of a

meal

complacent smug and self-satisfied complaisant willing to please

complementto add to so as to improve; an addition that

improves somethingcompliment

to praise or express approval; an

admiring remark

council a group of people who manage or advise counsel advice; to advise

cue a signal for action; a wooden rod queue a line of people or vehicles

curb to keep something in check; a control or limit kerb(in British English) the stone edge of a

pavement

currant a dried grape currenthappening now; a flow of water, air, or

electricity

defuse to make a situation less tense diffuse to spread over a wide area

desert a waterless, empty area; to abandon someone dessert the sweet course of a meal

discreet careful not to attract attention discrete separate and distinct

disinterested impartial uninterested not interested

draught a current of air draft a first version of a piece of writing

draw an even score at the end of a game drawer a sliding storage compartment

dual having two parts duel a fight or contest between two people

elicit to draw out a reply or reaction illicit not allowed by law or rules

ensure to make certain that something will happen insureto provide compensation if a person dies

or property is damaged

envelop to cover or surround envelope a paper container for a letter

exercise physical activity; to do physical activity exorcise to drive out an evil spirit

fawn a young deer; light brown faun a mythical being, part man, part goat

flaunt to display ostentatiously flout to disregard a rule

flounder to move clumsily; to have difficulty doing something founder to fail

forbear to refrain forebear an ancestor

foreword an introduction to a book forward onwards, ahead

freeze to turn to ice frieze a decoration along a wall

grisly gruesome, revolting grizzly a type of bear

hoard a store horde a large crowd of people

imply to suggest indirectly infer to draw a conclusion

loath reluctant, unwilling loathe to hate

loose to unfasten; to set free lose to be deprived of; to be unable to find

meter a measuring device metre a metric unit; rhythm in verse

militate to be a powerful factor against mitigate to make less severe

palate the roof of the mouth palette a board for mixing colours

pedal a foot-operated lever peddle to sell goods



pole a long, slender piece of wood poll voting in an election

pour to flow or cause to flow porea tiny opening; to study something

closely

practicethe use of an idea or method; the work or business

of a doctor, dentist, etc.practise

to do something repeatedly to gain skill;

to do something regularly

prescribeto authorize use of medicine; to order

authoritativelyproscribe to officially forbid something

principal most important; the head of a school principle a fundamental rule or belief

sceptic a person inclined to doubt septic infected with bacteria

sight the ability to see site a location

stationary not moving stationery writing materials

storey a level of a building story a tale or account

titillate to arouse interest titivate to make more attractive

tortuous full of twists; complex torturous full of pain or suffering

wreath a ring-shaped arrangement of flowers etc. wreathe to surround or encircle

Back to usage.

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Who or whom?

Can or may?

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Grammar and usage

Grammar

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Compound subjects

Double negatives

Dangling participles

Ending sentences with prepositions

Matching subjects and verbs

Matching verbs to collective nouns

Personal pronouns

Plurals of English nouns taken from Latin or Greek

Singular nouns treated as plural

Split infinitives

The comma splice

Verbs from nouns

Verbs with two different past tense forms

Grammar A-Z

Word classes (or parts of speech)

Adjectives

Comparative and superlative adjectives

Gradable and non-gradable adjectives

Qualitative and classifying adjectives

Adverbs

Sentence adverbs

Adverbials and adjuncts

Conjunctions

Determiners

Exclamations



Nouns

Countable and uncountable nouns

Prepositions

Pronouns

Verbs

Verb tenses

Regular and irregular verbs

Subjects and objects

Transitive and intransitive verbs

Participles

Active and passive verbs

Moods

Phrasal verbs

Auxiliary verbs

Sentences, clauses, and phrases

Sentences

Clauses

Relative clauses

Phrases

Spelling

Adding endings to words that end in -our

Adding endings to words that end in -y

Adding endings to words that end in a double l

Abbreviations

Acronyms

Contractions

Initialisms

Shortenings

Adding -ful or -fully

Adding -ly

Ante- or anti-?

Common misspellings

Endings beginning with vowels

Words ending in -ance and -ence

Words ending in -ancy and -ency

Words spelled with -ae/-oe

Words ending in -ary, -ory, and -ery

Words ending in -ant and -ent

Words ending in -efy and -ify

Words ending in -ence/-ense

Nouns ending in -er, -or, and -ar

Words ending in -ious and -eous

Words ending in -ogue/-og

-ize, -ise, or -yse?

Words ending in -able or -ible

Nouns ending in -acy and -asy

English spelling changes

fore- or for-?



Forming adverbs

Forming comparative and superlative adjectives

How words are built

i before e except after c

Plurals of nouns

Prefixes and suffixes

Spelling differences and changes

Minuscule or miniscule?

Currying favour

Old and new forms

One word or two?

British and American spelling

Spelling rules and tips

Tracking the changes

Using capital letters

Verb tenses: adding -ed and -ing

Words containing the letter q

Words ending in a vowel plus l

Words ending in -cede, -ceed, and -sede

Words ending in -ch and -tch

Words ending in -re/-er

Words ending in -sion, -tion, and -cion

Words with misleading beginnings

Punctuation

Full stop (.)

Comma (,)

Semicolon (;)

Colon (:)

Apostrophe ()

Hyphen (-)

Dash ()

Brackets ( ) [ ]

Inverted commas

Exclamation mark (!)

Question mark (?)

Bullet points

Punctuation in direct speech

Punctuation in lists

Punctuation in abbreviations

Writing help

Top writing tips

Top tips for better writing

Top tips for word choice

Top tips for CV writing

Top tips for writing a cover letter

Top tips for better business writing

Top tips for writing better essays

Top tips for writing a personal statement



Top tips for online writing

Top tips for creative writing

Top tips for writing a successful speech

Top tips for writing a review

Building a piece of writing

Structure

Cohesion

Clichs and redundant expressions

Avoiding clichs

Avoiding redundant expressions

Applying for a job

Writing a CV/rsum

Writing job applications

Letters and invitations

How to lay out a letter

Letter formats: block, modified block, and semi-block

Choose the right greeting and sign off

Invitations and RSVPs

Insurance claims

Letters of complaint

Letters of condolence

Business letters

Writing a business email

Business email dos and don'ts

Email mistakes to avoid

Writing reports

The language of gender

The language of mental or physical disability

Usage

A historic event or an historic event?

Adverse or averse?

Affect or effect?

All right or alright?

Allude or elude?

Alternate or alternative?

Among or amongst?

Amoral or immoral?

Assume or presume?

Appraise or apprise?

Bare or bear?

Between you and me

Bored by, of, or with?

Bring or take?

British and American terms

Can or may?

Cannot or can not?

Censure or censor?

Cite, site, or sight?



Climactic or climatic?


Complement or compliment?

Continual or continuous?

Could of or could have?

Denote or connote?

Dialect

Different from, than, or to?

Diffuse or defuse?

Discreet or discrete?

Disinterested or uninterested?

Elicit or illicit?

Enquire or inquire?

Ensure or insure?

Especially or specially?

Farther or further?

Flair or flare?

Flaunt or flout?

Formal language

Grizzly or grisly?

He or she versus they

Historic or historical?

Hopefully

I or me?

i.e. or e.g.?

Imply or infer?

Informal language

Irregardless

Its or its?

Laid or lain?

Learnt or learned?

Less or fewer?

Like

Literally

Literary language

Loose or lose?

May or might?

Neither and nor

Old-fashioned language

Onto or on to?

Phenomenon or phenomena?

Principal or principle?

Shall or will?

Slang

Standard English

Thankfully

That or which?

Themselves or 'themself?



These or those?

To or too?

Who or whom?

Tortuous or torturous?

English (UK)

English (UK)

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Commonly Confused Words - Oxford Dictionaries