In English, there are hundreds of confusing words that writers accidentally misuse for one another. Using the wrong word can result in a small typo, or it can drastically alter the meaning of your sentence. Of course, neither option is desirable.
Everyone makes mistakes in writing, and we’re all trying to be the best writers we can be. In an effort to help students navigate some of English’s most confusing words, we have compiled this list. Every word pairing on this list represents a question from one of our readers. Each set of words will link to a full post detailing the difference between two or more confusing English words, and as we receive more questions, we write more articles. If there is a confusing set of words you don’t see here, please reach out to us using our contact page, and we will do our best to assist you and possibly write a full article for the website!
As in every language, word choice is important when communicating.
As Mark Twain famously said, “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.”
Full List of Confusing English Words
Ad and Add
Advise and Advice
Aid and Aide
Aisle and Isle
Alone and Lonely
Altar and Alter
Angel and Angel
Anxious and Eager
Apart and A Part
Are and Our
Bail and Bale
Baring and Bearing
Base and Bass
Below and Bellow
Brake and Break
Breakdown and Break Down
Bear With Me and Bare With Me
Breath and Breathe
Capital and Capitol
Cavalry and Cavalry
Checkout and Check out
Compliment and Complement
Color and Colour
Coma and Comma
Cord and Chord
Course and Coarse
Device and Devise
Defuse and Diffuse
Diary and Dairy
Dice and Die
Diner and Dinner
Discreet and Discrete
Dragged and Drug
Dual and Duel
Emigrate and Immigrate
Everyday and Every Day
Evoke and Invoke
Explicit and Implicit
Fare and Fair
Fed versus Feed
Flare and Flair
Foreword and Forward
Former and Latter
Forth and Fourth
Further and Farther
Has and Have
Hers and Her’s
Imply and Infer
Its and It’s
Gist and Jist
Labor and Labour
Led and Lead
Liar and Lier
Lightning and Lightening
Literally and Figuratively
Lives and Lifes
Login and Log in
Lose and Loose
Loss and Lost
Macro and Micro
Maze and Maize
Me and I
New and Knew
Oral and Aural
Paid and Payed
Patients and Patience
Peak and Peek
Phase and Faze
Pray versus Prey
Principal and Principle
Right and Rite
Road and Rode
Role and Roll
Root and Route
Sole and Soul
Stationary and Stationery
Then and Than
To and Too and Two
Underway and Under Way
Upmost and Utmost
Waste and Waist
Weary and Wary
Weather and Whether
Whose and Who’s
Yea and Yeah
Your and You’re
