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 some commonly confused words--with links to definitions, examples, and practice exercises that should help you to keep these words straight. You can test your understanding of these words at our Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words.

A

• A, An, & And


• Accept, Except, & Expect


• Adapt & Adopt


• Advice & Advise


• Affect & Effect


• Aggravate & Irritate


• All Ready & Already


• All Together & Altogether


• Allude & Elude


• Allusion & Illusion


• Allusive & Elusive


• A Lot (Much, Many)


• Amount & Number


• Anyone & Any One


• Assure, Ensure, & Insure

B

• Baited & Bated


• Beside & Besides


• Breath & Breathe

C

• Capital & Capitol


• Choose, Chose, & Chosen


• Cite & Site


• Clothes & Cloths


• Complement & Compliment


• Conscience & Conscious


• Continual & Continuous

D

• Days & Daze


• Desert & Dessert


• Device & Devise


• Disinterested & Uninterested

E

• Envelop & Envelope


• Explicit & Implicit

F

• Farther & Further


• Few (Fewer) & Little (Less)


• Flaunt & Flout


• Formally & Formerly


• Full & Fulsome

H

• Hanged & Hung


• Have & Of


• Hoping & Hopping

I

• Imply & Infer


• In & Into


• Its & It's

L

• Later & Latter


• Lay & Lie


• Lead & Led


• Leave & Let


• Lightening & Lightning


• Literally & Figuratively


• Loose & Lose

M

• Many & Much


• Maybe & May Be


• Moral & Morale

O

• Obsolescent & Obsolete

P

• Passed & Past


• Persecute & Prosecute


• Personal & Personnel


• Precede & Proceed


• Prescribe & Proscribe


• Principal & Principle

Q

• Quiet, Quit, & Quite


• Quotation & Quote

R

• Respectively & Respectfully


• Role & Roll

S

• Set & Sit


• Should & Would


• Sometime, Some time, & Sometimes

T

• Than & Then


• Their, There, & They're


• To & Too

V

• Vary & Very

W

• Were, We're, & Where


• Which & Who


• Who & Whom


• Whose & Who's

Y

• Your & You're

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