Top Commonly Confusing Words | List of Confusing Words in #English #Spell | Part – 1

Commonly confused words sentence with examples

Affect vs Effect

The Affect word is usually a verb meaning “to produce an effect upon,” as in “the weather affected his mood.” Effect is usually a noun meaning” a change that results when something is done or happens,” as in “computers have had a huge effect on our lives.”

Accept vs Except

The word Accept and except are frequently confused, but they are totally different words that ave separately meaning of each work. Accept (pronounced [ak-sept]) is a transitive verb meaning to willingly receive, allow, or approve of something or someone. Except (pronounced [ek-sept] is mainly used as a preposition meaning “excluding” or “apart from.

Assure vs Ensure

Ensure means “make certain that something will occur.” Assure means “convince” or “give confidence to.

Buy vs By

Brought vs Bought

Brought is the past tense and past participle of the verb to bring, which means “to carry someone or something to a place or person.” Bought is the past tense and past participle of the verb to buy, which means “to obtain something by paying money for it.”

Cereal vs Serial

Cereal is a type of grass such as wheat, oats, or corn, which has starchy grains used as food. Serial describes a person who commits a similar crime repeatedly.

Complement vs Compliment

Complement refers to something that makes something else perfect or complete, such as tomato sauce complements plain spaghetti. Compliment refers to saying something nice or praising, such as you look nice this evening.

Desert vs. Dessert

“Dessert” and “desert” sound similar, but they have different definitions. Dessert is a sweet treat or dish usually served at the end of a meal. Desert can be used as a noun that refers to “dry and barren land,” while the verb means “to abandon someone or something is a disloyal way.”

Defence vs Defense

Defence and defense are the same word spelled differently. Defence is the correct spelling if you’re writing in British English, whereas defense is the correct spelling if you’re writing in American English.

Emigrate vs Immigrate

Immigrate means to live in a country that is not your country of origin. It is often used with to. Emigrate means to leave your country of origin and live someplace else. It is often used with from.

Further vs Farther

If you want to be sure not to make a mistake, the simplest rules to follow are: Use farther only when you are referring to distance, literal or figurative. Use further only to mean “more”

Gray vs Grey

Gray and grey are both common spellings of the color between black and white. Gray is more frequent in American English, whereas grey is more common in British English.

It’s vs Its

‘It’s’ with an apostrophe and the letter ‘s’” is a contraction of ‘it is’ or ‘it has’. The word ‘its’ without the apostrophe is a possessive pronoun.

Infer vs Imply

Their meanings are closely related, but they shouldn’t be used interchangeably. Imply means to express or suggest something indirectly—without explicitly stating it. Infer means to draw a conclusion from some evidence—in other words, to pick up on something that was implied.

Knew vs New

Knew is a verb that means to know. You can use it to talk about things you have experienced or learned. For example, “I knew you would be angry.” or “She knew she should have been more careful.” New is a verb that means to make something new.

Lay vs Lie

Lay is a verb that commonly means “to put or set (something) down.” Lie is a verb that commonly means “to be in or to assume a horizontal position” (or “to make an untrue statement,” but we’ll focus on the first definition). In other words, lay takes a direct object, and lie does not.

Lose vs Loose

Lose is a verb that means “to fail to win, to misplace, or to free oneself from something or someone.” Loose is an adjective that means “not tight.”

Lead vs Led

The past tense of lead is led, not lead. One reason for the confusion might be that the infinitive and past tense forms of a similar verb, read, are spelled the same way: read. But with lead, that’s not how things are. Led is the correct way to spell the past tense of lead.

Piece vs Peace

Peace means absence of war. Peace means tranquility or serenity. Piece means a part of a whole. Piece means a work of art, writing, music, or performance.

Principle vs Principal

A principle is a rule, a law, a guideline, or a fact. A principal is the headmaster of a school or a person who’s in charge of certain things in a company.

Quiet vs Quite

The word ‘quite’ is used to refer to the utmost degree or completely. The word ‘quiet’ means to make no or little noise, i.e., being noiseless and discreet.

Right vs Write

Right means that which complies with justice, law or reason when used as a noun. It can mean righteous, correct, or appropriate when used as an adjective. It also means opposite of left. Write means to form letters, words or symbols on a surface in order to communicate when used as a verb.

Stationary vs Stationery

The words stationary and stationery may look very similar, but that subtle vowel change alters the meaning of the word entirely. Stationary is defined by the Oxford Dictionary as “not moving or not intended to be moved,” while the definition of stationery is “writing and other office materials.”

Two vs Too vs To

Too means “also” (I’m going, too) or “to an excessive degree” (too much). Two is the number 2. The words are used in very different ways: to is most commonly used as a preposition, while too is an adverb. Two is a number that can be used as a noun (I have two) or an adjective (two wheels).

Their vs There

As homonyms, the words there, their, and they’re are all pronounced exactly the same but have different and distinct meanings. There means “at that place” and is used to talk about a specific location. Their indicates ownership and is the possessive form of they.

Wait vs Weight

Wait can be a verb or a noun. In both cases, it typically refers to letting time pass in expectation of something or until you can do something. More rarely, it can be a verb meaning “serve food or drink to a table.” Weight is usually a noun that refers to heaviness or a heavy object.

Who’s vs Whose

Who’s vs. whose: What’s the difference? The contraction who’s means who is or who has. The relative pronoun whose is used the same as other possessive pronouns such as my or their when you don’t know the owner of something, as in “whose phone is this?”

Woman vs Women

The word woman is a singular noun that refers to one female adult person, as in I gave my papers to the woman behind the counter. The plural of woman is women, as in Three women were waiting at the bus stop. Why is women the plural of woman? The short answer is that woman is an irregular noun.

Your vs You’re

‘Your’ is a possessive adjective that is used to describe something as belonging to ‘you’. ‘You’re’ is a contraction of ‘you are’. Almost always followed by a gerund or a noun. Usually followed by a noun, an adjective or a present participle.