CONFUSABLES Words with slight variation in spelling but sounding similar and having

different meanings.
• advice is the noun; advise the verb,
• affect and effect can both be verbs. To affect is to have an influence on: affected his
health. To
• effect is to bring about: effect changes. There is a noun effect meaning result or (in the
plural)
• property, but no noun affect except in the technical language of psychology.
• alternate means every other, happening in turns: on alternate days; in American use it
sometimes
• replaces alternative, which chiefly means available instead of another or others: an
alternative
• route.
• To amend something is to improve it, to emend (a text) is to remove errors from it
• annex is the verb, annexe the noun
• To appraise is to estimate the value of: appraised her skills. To apprise is to inform:
apprised him of
• the facts.
• An auger is a sort of large corkscrew; to augur is to portend a particular outcome.
• autarchy is despotism; autarky is economic self-sufficiency.
• One bails out a prisoner, and bails water out of a boat. One bales hay, and bales out of
an-aircraft
• bait is for fish, or is rat poison; but bated breath
• balmy means fragrant, barmy means crazy.
• bass and base both mean low, but bass is for music and base is inferior or ignoble
• A beret is a hat; a berry is a fruit
• A berth is for sleeping in; birth is being born.
• beside is by the side of, or compared with; besides is as well as, or other than.
• A bloc is a combination of parties, governments, or groups. Use block for all other
meanings-
• A boar is a male pig; a bore is a dull person or thing, or a tidal wave. The verb is bore.
• bogey is a golf score, bogey or bogy is a goblin, a bogie is a wheeled truck.
• A child is born; borne means carried, or given birth to: she has borne two sons.
• A breach is a gap or a breaking, but breech for a gun or for breech birth.
• A bridle is for horses; bridal concerns brides and weddings.
• by is the adverb or preposition; bye is a term in cricket or golf, or is short for goodbye.
• A caddie caries golf clubs; a caddy is a container of tea.
 • A calendar is for dates, but a calender is a mangle.
• A cannon is a gun or a stroke in billiards; a canon is a clergyman, a law, or a term in
music.
• canvas is cloth, but to canvass votes.
• carousal is noisy celebration; a carousel is at an airport of luggage, or else it is a
merry-go-round
• A censer contains incense; a censor examines books, films, etc. beofe public release; to
censure is
• to disapprove.
• chord is for music, mathematics, and engineering; cord is any kind of string, including
such
• anatomical ’strings’ as the spinal cord and vocal cords.
• complaisant means politely acquiescent; complacent is self-satisfied
• A complement makes something complete; to compliment is to praise
• A confidant is someone in whom you confide; confident means bold and trusting.
• A corps is a body of people, especially troops; a corpse is a dead body.
• A council is an assembly, whose members are councilors; counsel is advice, and a
counselor is either an adviser or a senior diplomat.
• crape is a black fabric; crepe is either a thin fabric, a kind of rubber, or a pancake.
• A crevasse is a hole in ice; a crevice is any small fissure.
• crochet is rather like knitting; a crotchet is a musical note
• A curb is a restraint, and to curb is to restrain; the edge of a pavement is a curb or a
kerb.
• A cygnet is a young swam, but a signet is a seal, often set in a ring.
• Cyprus is an island, but a cypress is a tree.
D
• dependant is the noun, dependent the adjective
• To deprecate something is to deplore it; to depreciate it is to belittle it or reduce its value
• To desert is to abandon, and a desert is a dry sandy place; but the sweet course of a meal
is dessert
• device is a noun, devise a verb
• A dinghy is a boat; dingy means grimy
• discreet means judicious; discrete means separate
• To douse is to quench; to dowse is to use a divining rod
• A draft is a military party, a money order, or a sketch; as a verb it means to prepare a
document, the work of a draftsman
• A draught is a current of air, a drink, a ship’s depth, while a draughtsman
 • either draws plans or is one of the pieces in the game of draughts. (But the Americans
sensibly use draft for both)
E, F
• etymology is about words, entomology is about insects.
○

•
• A faun is a rural deity; a fawn is a young deer, and to fawn is to flatter
• To flaunt something is to display it ostentatiously; to flout a rule is to break it
contemptuously
• To forbear is to abstain, but a forebear is an ancestor
• foregoing and foregone mean preceding, complete; but to forgo something is to
relinquish it
• fortuitous means accidental, fortunate means lucky
G
• Gallic means French; Gaelic means the Celtic languages or peoples
• A geezer is an old man, but a geyser is a hot spring or a bathroom water heater
• To gibe or jibe is to jeer; to gybe is what a sail does
• A gourmet is a connoisseur of food, but a gourmand is just greedy
• grisly means horrible; a grizzly is a bear
• A groin is a kind of arch, or an anatomical part; a groyne is a breakwater.