Glossary of Usage: Index of Commonly Confused Words

"Advice" or "advise"? "Farther" or "further"? "Principal" or "principle"? It's easy to confuse words that are similar in sound, spelling, or meaning. But with a bit of review it's also easy to clear up such confusions.

Here in our Glossary of Usage you will find more than 150 sets of commonly confused words--with links to definitions, examples, and practice exercises that should help you keep these words straight. You can test your understanding of these words at our Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words and Quiz on 20 Commonly Confused Words.

A

• A, An, & And


• Accept, Except, and Expect


• Adapt and Adopt


• Adverse and Averse


• Advice and Advise


• Affect and Effect


• Aggravate and Irritate


• All Ready and Already


• All Together and Altogether


• Allude and Elude


• Allusion and Illusion


• Allusive and Elusive


• A Lot (Much, Many)


• Altar and Alter


• Ambiguous and Ambivalent


• Amoral and Immoral


• Amount and Number


• Amuse and Bemuse


• Anxious and Eager


• Anyone and Any One


• Appraise and Apprise


• Are and Our


• Assure, Ensure, and Insure

B

• Baited and Bated


• Beside and Besides


• Breath and Breathe

C

• Capital and Capitol


• Censor and Censure


• Choose, Chose, and Chosen


• Cite and Site


• Clothes and Cloths


• Complement and Compliment


• Conscience and Conscious


• Continual and Continuous


• Council and Counsel

D

• Days and Daze


• Desert and Dessert


• Device and Devise


• Discreet and Discrete


• Disinterested and Uninterested


• Distinct and Distinctive


• Dual and Duel

E

• Economic and Economical


• Eminent and Imminent


• Envelop and Envelope


• Epigram, Epigraph, and Epitaph


• Eventually and Ultimately


• Every Day and Everyday


• Explicit and Implicit

F

• Farther and Further


• Few (Fewer) and Little (Less)


• Flaunt and Flout


• Flounder and Founder


• Foreword and Forward


• Formally and Formerly


• Fortunate and Fortuitous


• Full and Fulsome

G

• Gourmand and Gourmet


• Grisly and Grizzly

H

• Hanged and Hung


• Hardy and Hearty


• Have and Of


• Historic and Historical


• Hoard and Horde


• Home and Hone


• Hoping and Hopping

I

• Imply and Infer


• In and Into


• Incredible and Incredulous


• Ingenious and Ingenuous


• Intense and Intent


• Its and It's

L

• Last and Latter


• Later and Latter


• Lay and Lie


• Lead and Led


• Leave and Let


• Lend and Loan


• Lessen and Lesson


• Liable and Libel


• Lightening and Lightning


• Literally and Figuratively


• Loath and Loathe


• Loose and Lose

M

• Many and Much


• Marital and Martial


• Maybe and May Be


• Media and Medium


• Miner and Minor


• Moot and Mute


• Moral and Morale

N

• Noisome and Noisy

O

• Obsolescent and Obsolete

P

• Pair, Pare, and Pear


• Passed and Past


• Peace and Piece


• Perquisite and Prerequisite


• Persecute and Prosecute


• Personal and Personnel


• Perspective and Prospective


• Perverse and Perverted


• Pore and Pour


• Precede and Proceed


• Premier and Premiere


• Prescribe and Proscribe


• Principal and Principle

Q

• Quell and Quench


• Quiet, Quit, and Quite


• Quotation and Quote

R

• Rack and Wrack


• Rain, Reign, and Rein


• Raise and Rise


• Rational and Rationale


• Ravage and Ravish


• Recourse and Resource


• Regretful and Regrettable


• Respectively and Respectfully


• Review and Revue


• Role and Roll

S

• Sensual and Sensuous


• Serve and Service


• Set and Sit


• Shall and Will


• Shear and Sheer


• Should and Would


• Simple and Simplistic


• Sometime, Some time, and Sometimes


• Stationary and Stationery


• Statue and Statute

T

• Temerity and Timidity


• Than and Then


• Their, There, and They're


• To and Too


• Troop and Troupe

V

• Vain, Vane, and Vein


• Vary and Very


• Veracious and Voracious

W

• Waist and Waste


• Were, We're, and Where


• Which and Who


• Who and Whom


• Whoever and Whomever


• Whose and Who's

Y

• Young and Youthful


• Your and You're

Review:
Test your understanding of these words at our Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words and Quiz on 20 Commonly Confused Words.