"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'll find more than 300 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.
See also:
- 200 Homonyms, Homophones, and Homographs
- The Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words
- Another Big Quiz on Commonly Confused Words
A
- A, An, & And
- Abstruse and Obtuse
- Accept, Except, and Expect
- Accidental and Incidental
- Adapt and Adopt
- Adverse and Averse
- Advice and Advise
- Affect and Effect
- Afterward(s) and Afterword
- Aggravate and Irritate
- Aid and Aide
- 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
- Among and Between
- Amoral and Immoral
- Amount and Number
- Amuse and Bemuse
- Anecdote and Antidote
- Angel and Angle
- Anonymous and Unanimous
- Anxious and Eager
- Anyone and Any One
- Appraise and Apprise
- Ardent and Arduous
- Are and Our
- Ascent and Assent
- Assure, Ensure, and Insure
- Aural and Oral
- Avocation and Vocation
- Awhile and A While
B
- Bail and Bale
- Baited and Bated
- Band and Banned
- Bare and Bear
- Bathos and Pathos
- Beside and Besides
- Bloc and Block
- Boar, Boor, and Bore
- Board and Bored
- Bolder and Boulder
- Brake and Break
- Breakdown and Break Down
- Breath and Breathe
- Bridal and Bridle
- Bring and Take
- Broach and Brooch
- Buy, By, and Bye
C
- Calvary and Cavalry
- Cannon and Canon
- Canvas and Canvass
- Capital and Capitol
- Carat, Caret, and Carrot
- Ceiling and Sealing
- Cel, Cell, and Sell
- Censor and Censure
- Cent, Scent, and Sent
- Cereal and Serial
- Chafe and Chaff
- Chaotic and Inchoate
- Childish and Childlike
- Choose, Chose, and Chosen
- Chord and Cord
- Cite and Site
- Cleanup and Clean Up
- Click and Clique
- Climactic and Climatic
- Close, Clothes, and Cloths
- Coarse and Course
- Collaborate and Cooperate
- Complement and Compliment
- Complementary and Complimentary
- Compulsion and Compunction
- Confidant and Confident
- Conscience and Conscious
- Consequently and Subsequently
- Contemptible and Contemptuous
- Continual and Continuous
- Council and Counsel
- Credible, Creditable, and Credulous
- Criterion and Criteria
D
- Dam and Damn
- Days and Daze
- Dazed and Dazzled
- Dear and Deer
- Defective and Deficient
- Defuse and Diffuse
- Dependant and Dependent
- Deprecate and Depreciate
- Desert and Dessert
- Device and Devise
- Diagnosis and Prognosis
- Die and Dye
- Discover and Invent
- Discreet and Discrete
- Disinterested and Uninterested
- Distinct and Distinctive
- Dual and Duel
E
- Earthly and Earthy
- Economic and Economical
- E.g. and I.e.
- Elicit and Illicit
- Emigrate and Immigrate
- Eminent and Imminent
- Envelop and Envelope
- Epigram, Epigraph, and Epitaph
- Etc. and Et al.
- Eventually and Ultimately
- Everyday and Every Day
- Everyone and Every One
- Evoke and Invoke
- Exhort and Extort
- Explicit and Implicit
F
- Faint and Feint
- Fair and Fare
- Farrago and Fiasco
- Farther and Further
- Faze and Phase
- Few (Fewer) and Little (Less)
- Finally and Finely
- Fir and Fur
- Flair and Flare
- Flammable, Inflammable, and Nonflammable
- Flaunt and Flout
- Flesh Out and Flush Out
- Flew, Flu, and Flue
- Flounder and Founder
- Forbear and Forebear
- Foreword and Forward
- Formally and Formerly
- Forth and Fourth
- Fortunate and Fortuitous
- Full and Fulsome
G
- Garner and Garnish
- Gibe, Jibe, and Jive
- Good and Well
- Gorilla and Guerrilla
- Gourmand and Gourmet
- Grate and Great
- Grisly and Grizzly
- Groan and Grown
- Guessed and Guest
H
- Hanged and Hung
- Hardy and Hearty
- Have and Of
- Hear and Here
- Heard and Herd
- Heroin and Heroine
- Higher and Hire
- Historic and Historical
- Hoard and Horde
- Hoarse and Horse
- Hole and Whole
- Home and Hone
- Hoping and Hopping
- Hour and Our
- Human and Humane
- Hurdle and Hurtle
I
- I and Me
- Imaginary and Imaginative
- Imply and Infer
- In and Into
- Incidence and Incidents
- Incite and Insight
- Incredible and Incredulous
- Indiscreet and Indiscrete
- Ingenious and Ingenuous
- Inhuman and Inhumane
- Insidious and Invidious
- Intense and Intent
- Interment and Internment
- Inveigh and Inveigle
- Its and It's
J
K
L
- Last and Latter
- Later and Latter
- Lay and Lie
- Leach and Leech
- Lead and Led
- Leave and Let
- Lend and Loan
- Lessen and Lesson
- Lets and Let's
- Liable and Libel
- Lightening and Lightning
- Limp and Limpid
- Literally and Figuratively
- Loath and Loathe
- Loose and Lose
- Luxuriant and Luxurious
M
- Mail and Male
- Manner and Manor
- Mantel and Mantle
- Many and Much
- Marital and Martial
- Material and Materiel
- Maybe and May Be
- Medal, Meddle, Metal, and Mettle
- Media, Medium, and Mediums
- Militate and Mitigate
- Miner and Minor
- Moot and Mute
- Moral and Morale
N
O
P
- Pail and Pale
- Pain and Pane
- Pair, Pare, and Pear
- Palatable and Palpable
- Palate, Palette, and Pallet
- Passed and Past
- Patience and Patients
- Peace and Piece
- Peak, Peek, and Pique
- Pedal and Peddle
- Penultimate and Ultimate
- Perpetrate and Perpetuate
- Perquisite and Prerequisite
- Persecute and Prosecute
- Personal and Personnel
- Perspective and Prospective
- Perverse and Perverted
- Plain and Plane
- Pole and Poll
- Poor, Pore, and Pour
- Pray and Prey
- Precede and Proceed
- Precedence and Precedents
- Premier and Premiere
- Prescribe and Proscribe
- Principal and Principle
- Prodigy and Protégé
- Prophecy and Prophesy
- Prostate and Prostrate
Q
R
- Rack and Wrack
- Rain, Reign, and Rein
- Raise, Raze, and Rise
- Rapt and Wrapped
- Rational and Rationale
- Ravage and Ravish
- Real and Reel
- Recourse and Resource
- Regretful and Regrettable
- Reluctant and Reticent
- Respectfully and Respectively
- Restive and Restless
- Review and Revue
- Riffle and Rifle
- Right, Rite, Wright, and Write
- Ring and Wring
- Risky and Risqué
- Role and Roll
S
- Sail and Sale
- Scene and Seen
- Seam and Seem
- Seasonable and Seasonal
- Sensible and Sensitive
- Sensual and Sensuous
- Serve and Service
- Set and Sit
- Shall and Will
- Shear and Sheer
- Should and Would
- Sic and Sick
- Simple and Simplistic
- Skulk and Sulk
- Soar and Sore
- Sole and Soul
- Sometime, Some time, and Sometimes
- Stanch and Staunch
- Stationary and Stationery
- Statue and Statute
- Steal and Steel
- Straight and Strait
- Suit, Suite, and Sweet
T
- Tack and Tact
- Tail and Tale
- Taught and Taut
- Team and Teem
- Temerity and Timidity
- Than and Then
- Their, There, and They're
- Threw, Through, and Thru
- Throes and Throws
- Tide and Tied
- To, Too, and Two
- Torpid and Torrid
- Tortuous and Torturous
- Track and Tract
- Troop and Troupe
- Trustee and Trusty
- Turbid, Turbulent, and Turgid
U
V
W
- Wade and Weighed
- Waist and Waste
- Wait and Weight
- Waive and Wave
- Ware, Wear, and Where
- Way and Weigh
- Weak and Week
- Weather and Whether
- Were, We're, and Where
- Wet and Whet
- Who, Which, and That
- Who and Whom
- Whoever and Whomever
- Whose and Who's
Y
Review:
Test your understanding of these words at our Review Quiz: Commonly Confused Words and Quiz on 20 Commonly Confused Words.
