30 Commonly Confused English Words, Sorted Out
By Mir Hadi ·
These pairs cause a lot of everyday spelling mistakes. Each one comes with a quick test rather than a rule to memorise.
Sound-alikes
- their / there / they’re: their owns something (their car); there is a place or a filler (over there; there is); they’re is “they are”. Test: can you say “they are”? Then it’s they’re. The there, their or they’re guide works through a full paragraph.
- your / you’re: you’re is “you are”. If “you are” fits, use the apostrophe.
- its / it’s: it’s is only ever “it is” or “it has”. Possessive its has no apostrophe, like his.
- to / too / two: too means “also” or “excessively”; two is the number; to is everything else.
- whose / who’s: who’s is “who is”.
- then / than: than compares (taller than); then orders in time (first this, then that).
- affect / effect: affect is almost always the verb (it affected me); effect is almost always the noun (the effect on me). The exceptions exist but you can live without them.
- accept / except: accept is to receive; except is to leave out.
- complement / compliment: a complement completes (the wine complements the fish); a compliment is praise.
- principal / principle: the principal is a person or the main thing (your pal); a principle is a rule.
- stationary / stationery: stationery with an E is for envelopes; stationary with an A means still.
- capital / capitol: the Capitol is the building; everything else is capital.
- desert / dessert: dessert has two S’s because you want seconds.
- lose / loose: lose is the verb (you lose a game); loose is the adjective (a loose tooth). One O for the one you don’t want.
Look-alikes
- advice / advise: advice is the noun, advise the verb. Say them aloud; the verb ends in a Z sound.
- practice / practise: in British English the same split as advice/advise; in American English practice does both jobs.
- licence / license: same pattern: British splits noun and verb, American uses license for both. Wikipedia’s page on American and British spelling differences covers both pairs.
- breath / breathe: breathe with the E is the verb.
- bath / bathe, cloth / clothe: same pattern.
- conscience / conscious: your conscience tells right from wrong; conscious means awake or aware.
- elicit / illicit: to elicit is to draw out; illicit is illegal.
- farther / further: farther for physical distance, further for everything else. Many writers use further for both and nobody minds.
- fewer / less: fewer for things you count (fewer cars), less for things you measure (less traffic).
- lay / lie: you lay something down (needs an object); you lie down yourself. The past tense of lie is lay, which is the whole problem.
- imply / infer: the speaker implies; the listener infers.
- ensure / insure / assure: ensure makes certain, insure buys a policy, assure reassures a person.
- discreet / discrete: discreet is tactful; discrete is separate. The two E’s in discreet are keeping a secret together.
- allusion / illusion: an allusion is an indirect reference; an illusion is a trick of the senses.
- peak / peek / pique: a peak is a summit, a peek is a glance, and pique is what gets your interest (or your temper) up.
A habit that catches most of them
For the look-alikes there is no expanded form to try, so check the meaning instead: the word finder and the “is it a word?” pages show a short definition next to each word.
For the sound-alikes, read the sentence aloud with the expanded form. “They are car” sounds wrong, so it’s their car. “The dog wagged it is tail” sounds wrong, so it’s its tail. “Who is coat is this?” sounds wrong, so it’s whose coat.