Hope's Collection of

Commonly Confused Words

Spelling differences, homonyms

bight - a loop in a knot; also a type of land formation

bite - as a verb, to chomp down on something.

   as a noun, having been bitten, or, the shape of someone's mouth (e.g., the child had an overbite.)

byte - 8 bits, used in computing.  Generally combined with metric prefixes such as kilo-, mega-, and giga-.

E.g. I bite my lip as I try to tie a bowline on a bight, wondering how many kilobytes of storage a short video on the subject would require.

brake - what you step on to stop a vehicle; also a patch of vegetation, as in a cane brake. 

break -  to render something in an unusable state, e.g., Don't break my mp3 player!

A synonym for rest, e.g., "I need a break."

In music, when one musician in a band takes a solo, e.g., "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." 

Also, back in the 80s, a form of dancing.

E.g. "Slow down.  You're driving too fast.  Don't break the brakes."

board - a piece of wood, or a group of people, such as a board of directors

bored - not interested, or past tense of to bore, as in a hole...

E.g. The new secretary was bored at the board meeting.

Cavalry - a mounted Army unit, originally on horses, but now that can include tanks.

Calvary - Mt. Golgotha

E.g. If Jesus' disciples could have called out the cavalry, they might have ruined what happened on Calvary.

cord - a thick thread

chord - a group of musical notes that sound good together.

E.g. The pianist played a chord, then tied up the music paper with a cord.

discreet - not a blabbermouth, etc.

discrete - the opposite of concrete, e.g., discrete sound mixing

E.g. "Be discreet when discussing discrete mixing."

dual - a synonym for "double," as in, "a dual purpose.

duel - a fight, as in, "the offended marquis challenged the baron to a duel."

E.g. "The allegedly illegal alien had to duel for his right to dual citizenship."

elicit - to look for a response

illicit - illegal or improper

E.g.:  The police officer attempted to elicit information from the bank robber about his illicit activity.

lest - unless (this should be pronounced to rhyme with best, not beast)

least - smallest, or most insignificant

E.g. Be kind to the least important person in the room, lest they turn out to be important someday.

lose - to misplace something

loose - the opposite of tight (or the opposite of morally upright)

E.g. "Did you lose your ring?"  "Yes, it was too loose."

I've seen these four used interchangeably, which, as you can tell by the definitions, is incorrect

metal - a generally malleable elemental mineral or alloy of several minerals, such as silver, gold, steel, aluminum, etc.

mettle - moral or physical constitution, e.g. "to test one's mettle" (also an obsolete usage for metal)

medal - an award, often given for valor or an achievement

meddle - to interfere

E.g. Joanie deserves a metal medal for refusing to meddle in the test of her sister's mettle.

oar - a type of paddle used to propel a rowboat; can also be used figuratively, as in "He don't have both oars in the water" (he's not quite all there...  And it's hardly ever used with good grammar.) 

or- an alternative conjunction, as in "something or other"

ore- the stuff out of a mine which is smelted down to get rid of the impurities and release the pure metal within.

OR - Two letter postal code for the US state of Oregon

Ore - Old-time three letter abbreviation for the US state of Oregon, still seen in books written before computer-mechanization of the Postal System

E.g. Don't shove your oar in where it isn't wanted, or you may not get the ore to send to OR.

palate - taste, tastebuds, educated or not, e.g., "He has no palate," meaning, he can't tell the difference between wines.

palette - wooden, paper, or plastic board (sometimes shaped like the body of an electric guitar, with a thumb hole) used by artists to mix paints for a work of art, or a range of colors.

pallet - one of those wooden stands that are used to transport items in warehouses, or a makeshift bed made out of blankets and quilts to use when too many people come to visit overnight

E.g. The artist's palate was jaded by so much food, so he set down his palette, stopped painting for the night, and curled up on the pallet in the corner.

I've seen these two used interchangeably, and it's just not right!

passed - to hand someone something, to go by something, to decide against something.  e.g.  "He passed me the mashed potatoes."  "He passed me in the hall."  "He passed on my suggestion."

past - no longer the present time.  "Yesterday is in the past."

Or, confusingly, something that has gone by something: "I ran the story idea past him."

E.g.

"Time had passed, and their love was in the past."

"I ran the idea past the editor, and he passed on it." 

rains - precipitation falls from the sky (or also, metaphorically, to have something fall on someone, e.g., "troubles rained on him.")

reigns - rules, e.g., Elizabeth reigns in the United Kingdom; Jesus reigns in the hearts of His disciples (singular: reign)

reins - leather (usually) straps used with a bit to control a horse

(I added these because at one of my community websites, I found someone had written that the characters held onto the reigns of his horse... *grin*)  "Reins" is also used as a noun, archaic, to refer to the intestines, so when you find that reference in the Bible, that's what it means! 

E.g. Joseph pulled on the reins as rains gushed from the skies, hoping for news that the king still reigned. 

right - opposite of left; or- correct

rite - a ritual

wright - a skilled laborer, e.g., playwright, wainwright (old term for a wagon-maker), cartwright, etc.

write - to compose with words (or, latterly, computer terms, as in, to write a program). 

E.g. "Write this to the wright: you have no right to perform this rite."

By extension: it's copyright, the right to make copies, not "copywrite," which refers to composing an article for a newspaper, or writing ad copy, i.e., to write copy.

sear - to grill or burn meat to seal in the juices, or, in searing, can be used as a descriptor of heat

seer - one who sees, or a prophet, or one with psychic powers

sere - dry, as in a desert landscape

E.g. The seer stood in the sere garden, letting the sun sear his skin.

side - not the front or the back (although, technically, these are sides, too)

sighed - let out a breath, usually in sadness, frustration, or some other emotion

soughed - (Yes, this is pronounced SIDE, too) a soft blowing sound, as in, The wind soughed through the pines.

E.g. Mary stood to the side and sighed as the wind soughed through the trees.

site - a location, in cyberspace or elsewhere, e.g., "The supervisor went to the building site."

sight - vision, e.g., "You're a sight for sore eyes!"

cite - refer to, i.e., "The author cited an unknown source for his reference material." 

E.g. The supervisor cited city regulations as he took in the sight of mismanagement on the construction site.

This next pair of similar words is one I see confused more and more frequently:

start - to jump slightly when startled

startle - surprising someone so that they start

Just because the words are similar does not make them interchangeable. 

E.g.:  I started when Joseph came through the door.  "Oh!  You startled me!"

tenet - part of a belief system

tenant - someone who rents a property

E.g. The tenent held firmly to the tenets of his faith.

threw - past tense of throw, as in toss

through - finished, or a direction, as in, "Go through the door."

E.g. The horse threw a shoe through the window.

trooper - a policeman, deputy, or member of a Cavalry troop

trouper - member of a theatrical troupe

(The correct term is "you're a trouper," as in, the show must go on.)

E.g. The trooper pulled over the speeding circus trouper.

(I used to think this next one was obvious, but I've seen it misused recently.)

to -  used with verbs to form the infinitive of a verb in English.  Also for indication direction, as, "He is going to the store."

too - Also, as well as; e.g., "She's a writer, too."

two - A number immediately following one and preceding three.

E.g. Are the two of you going to the movies, too?

wait - noun or verb, indicating that something is not to be had immediately, as in "I had to wait for the train."  "It was a long wait." 

weight - the measure of something, usually in pounds or grams; also, metaphorically, as in "a weighty subject"

E.g. There was a long line, and patients had to wait to check their weight.

Apostrophe abuse

It's always means "it is," and is never used to indicate a possessive.  The proper possessive for it is

its.  Period. 

E.g.,  "It's always a good idea to put everything in its place."

there - a place, opposite of here, as in, "The house is over there."

their - possessive of they, as in, "That is their house."

they're - Contraction for they are," as in, "They're your friends."

E.g. "They're going to their house over there." 

who's - who is, as in, "Who's going to the writer's conference?"

whose - possessive of who, as in, "Whose idea was it to put all these commonly misused words on this website?"

E.g. Who's going to tell me whose these shoes are?

your - belonging to you

you're - you are

E.g. You're going to get your grammar straight if you keep reading this page.

And for Southern dialogue, y'all is not spelled ya'll because it is a contraction of you all, not ya all.  Y'all got that?  (Although some still dispute this, in most parts of the South, y'all is definitely plural rather than singular.)

Non-words

These are words that shouldn't exist.  I will allow for the necessity of "ain't" in dialogue, because it has a reason to exist (merely for the fact that it does.)  However, the following list should not ever be used:

alot.  I've not seen this nonword a lot, but it's beginning to crop up.

alright.  This is not a word.  The correct term is all right.  I suppose the rationale behind the usage is almighty, i.e., if that is acceptable for all mighty, then why isn't alright all right?  Sooner or later, it probably will be.  Most grammatical errors end up being adopted into the language eventually.  However, those of us who know better should try to keep the language from deteriorating as long as possible. 

I'll add more as I find them!  If you have suggestions, please feel free to post them in the guest book!  Thanks!

This page was last updated: June 10, 2009

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