English Language Commonly Confused Words

Last Updated on January 22, 2023 by admin

English Language tends to be difficult for non-native speakers. Many people often struggle to understand how to use it, probably because many words are related to each other. And most times very confusing.

This is a list of English language commonly confused words put together to help English language learners and speakers.

WORD PAIR	DESCRIPTION
Abut About	Generally, use “abut,” a verb, when you mean “to border” or “to lie next to.” Use “about,” an adverb, when you mean “almost” or “nearly.”
Adept Adapt	Generally, use “adept,” an adjective, when you mean “skilled.” Use “adapt,” a verb, when you mean “to adjust.”
Adepts Adopts	Use “adopts,” a verb, when you mean ” takes in,” ” takes up,” or “votes for.” “Adepts” is always incorrect.
Ads Adds	Use “ads,” a noun, when you mean advertisements. Use “adds,” a verb, when you mean “combines” or “expands.”
Advice Advise	Generally, use “advice,” a noun, when you mean “suggestion” or “guidance”—for example, “The manager gave Jenny advice.” Use “advise,” a verb, when you mean “to suggest” or “to give advice to”—for example, “Will you advise me before I go into the meeting?”
Aid Aide	Generally, use “aid,” a noun or verb, when you mean “help” or “assistance.” Use “aide,” a noun, when you mean “a helper.”
Ail Ale	Generally, use “ail,” a verb, when you mean “to feel unwell” or “to have pain.” Use “ale,” a noun, when you mean a type of drink.
Alters Altars	Use “alters,” a verb, when you mean “changes.” Use “altars,” a noun, when you are referring to tables used in religious ceremonies.
Assess Asses	Use “assess,” a verb, when you mean “to evaluate.” Use “asses,” a plural noun, when you are referring to the animal.
Augur Auger	Use “augur,” a noun or verb, when you mean a prophet or the act of prophesying—for example, “He has traits that augur well for his success.” Use “auger,” a noun, when you are referring to the tool.

 

Bare Bear	Generally, use “bare,” which can be an adjective or verb, when you mean “undressed,” “simple,” or “to reveal.” Use “bear,” which can be a noun or a verb, when you mean the animal or “to support” or “to produce.”
Beet Beat	Use “beet,” a noun, when you mean the plant. Use “beat,” a verb or a noun, when you mean “to hit,” “to win,” or a rhythm.
Bettor Better	Use “bettor,” a noun, when you mean a person who bets. Use “better,” which can be a noun, adjective, verb, or adverb, when you mean “superior” or “to improve.”
Border Boarder	Use “border,” a noun or verb, when you mean “edge” or “to be alongside of.” Use “boarder,” a noun, when you mean a paying guest.
Breath Breathe	Generally, use “breath,” a noun, when you mean the process of breathing, inhalation, or exhalation—for example, “She took a deep breath.” Use “breathe,” a verb, when you mean “to inhale and exhale”—for example, “Breathe deeply and smell the lilacs.”
Bridal Bridle	Use “bridal,” an adjective, when you are referring to a wedding. Generally, use “bridle,” a noun, when you mean “a harness.” Use “bridle,” a verb, when you mean “to harness” or “to show resentment”—for example, “she bridled at the suggestion.”
Broach Brooch	Use “broach” as a noun when you are referring to the tool or as a verb when you mean “to bring up” or “to pierce.” Use “brooch,” a noun, when you mean a pin or clasp.
Brows Browse	Use “brows,” a noun, when you mean the eyebrows. Use “browse,” a verb, when you mean “to scan through.”

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Callous Callus	Generally, use “callous,” an adjective, when you mean “unfeeling.” Use “callus,” a noun or verb, when you mean a thickened part of the skin or to develop a thickened part of the skin.
Cant Can’t	Use “cant,” a noun, when you mean “slope” or a type of speech. Use “can’t,” a contraction, when you mean “cannot.”
Cloth Clothe	Use “cloth,” a noun, when you mean “fabric.” Use “clothe,” a verb, when you mean “to dress.”
Confident Confidant	Use “confident,” an adjective, when you mean “assured”—for example, “She is confident she will get the promotion.” Use “confidant,” a noun, when you mean “friend”—for example, “He is her only confidant.”

 

Decent Descent	Use “decent,” an adjective, when you mean “proper” or “adequate.” Use “descent,” a noun, when you mean “a slope” or “a downward motion.”
Dependent Dependant	Use “dependent,” an adjective or noun, in the context of relying on someone or something. Use “dependant” only as an alternative spelling of the noun form.
Desert Dessert	Generally, use “desert,” a noun or verb, when you mean a type of land or “to abandon.” Use “dessert,” a noun, when you mean a class of food.
Dingy Dinghy	Use “dingy,” an adjective, when you mean “dirty” or “worn.” Use “dinghy,” a noun, when you mean a type of boat.
Dominant Dominate	Generally, use “dominant,” an adjective, when you mean “most influential” or “prominent.” Use “dominate,” a verb, when you mean “to control” or “to rule over.”
Downwards Downward	Use “downward,” an adverb or adjective, when you mean “descending” or “declining”—for example, “We do not see a downward trend in sales.” Use “downwards” only as an adverb when you mean “descending” or “declining.”

 

Elicit Illicit	Use “elicit,” a verb, when you mean “to obtain.” Use “illicit,” an adjective, when you mean “illegal.”
Envelop Envelope	Use “envelop,” a verb, when you mean “to enclose completely.” Use “envelope,” a noun, when you mean a type of container.
Extant Extent	Use “extant,” an adjective, when you mean “still in existence.” Use “extent,” a noun, when you mean “the range or area that a thing covers.”
Faze Phase	Use “faze,” a verb, when you mean “to disturb.” Use “phase,” a noun, when you mean “a certain stage or condition.”

 

Feat Feet	Use “feat,” a noun, when you mean “an act of courage or achievement.” Use “feet,” a noun, when you are referring to a part of a body, the lower end of an object, or a unit of measurement.
Find Fined	Use “find,” a verb or noun, when you mean “to locate,” “to detect,” or “a discovery.” Use “fined,” a verb, when you mean having been required to pay an amount of money.
Flare Flair	Use “flare,” a verb or noun, when you mean “to flame up” or “a blaze of light.” Use “flair,” a noun, when you mean “talent”—for example, “He has a flair for decorating.”
Flea Flee	Use “flea,” a noun, when you are referring to the insect. Use “flee,” a verb, when you mean “to run away.”
Forebear Forbear	Use “forbear,” a verb or noun, when you mean “to resist,” “to stop,” or “an ancestor.” Use “forebear” only as a noun when you mean “an ancestor.”

 

Gong Going	Use “gong,” a noun or verb, when you are referring to a type of musical instrument or to playing that instrument. Use “going,” a verb, when you mean “leaving,” “proceeding,” or “working.”
Grate Great	Use “grate,” a verb or noun, when you mean “to shred,” “to irritate,” or “a structure made of metal bars.” Use “great,” an adjective, when you mean “big,” “important,” or “outstanding.”
Grater Greater	Use “grater,” a noun, when you mean a tool. Use “greater,” an adjective, when you mean “bigger” or “more important.”
Herd Heard	Use “herd,” a noun or verb, when you mean “to flock” or “to assemble.” Use “heard,” a verb, when you mean perceiving sound or “listening.”
Hew Hue	Use “hew,” a verb, when you mean “to cut”—for example, “The workers will hew a new trail to the waterfall.” Use “hue,” a noun, when you are referring to color or appearance—for example, “The hue of the silk dress was a delicate blue.”
Hoard Horde	Use “hoard,” a noun or verb, when you mean “riches” or “to accumulate.” Use “horde,” a noun, when you mean “a large crowd.”
Hostel Hostile	Use “hostel,” a noun, when you mean a type of lodging. Use “hostile,” an adjective or noun, when you mean “unfriendly” or “one who is unfriendly.”

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Incite Insight	Use “incite,” a verb, when you mean “to urge” or “to stimulate”—for example, “Her speech will incite them into action.” Use “insight,” a noun, when you mean “perceptiveness” or “understanding”—for example, “Their insight into the situation was very useful.”
Indoor Indoors	Use “indoor,” an adjective, to modify a noun or pronoun, as in “indoor pool.” Use “indoors,” an adverb, to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb, as in “walked indoors.”
Inward Inwards	Use “inward,” an adjective, to modify a noun or pronoun, as in “inward chamber.” Use “inwards,” an adverb, to modify an adjective, verb, or other adverb, as in “go inwards.”
Its It’s	Use “its,” a pronoun, when you are indicating possession, as in “its branches.” Use “it’s,” a contraction, when you mean “it is”—for example, “It’s a long way to the station.”
Laps Lapse	Use “laps,” a noun or verb, when you mean “to drink,” “the motions of waves,” or “to overlap.” Use “lapse,” a noun or verb, when you mean “to decline” or “to revert.”
Lessens Lessons	Use “lessens,” a verb, when you mean “decreases.” Generally, use “lessons,” a noun, when you mean “instructions.”
Let’s Lets	Use “let’s,” a contraction, when you mean “let us.” Use “lets,” a verb, when you mean “allows” or “rents.”
Loath Loathe	Use “loath,” an adjective, when you mean “unwilling” or “afraid”—for example, “Although he was loath to apologize, he did it.” Use “loathe,” a verb, when you mean “to dislike”—for example, “The only vegetable they loathe is okra.”
Mane Main	Use “mane” when you are referring to a part of a horse or other animal. Use “main,” an adjective or noun, when you mean “most important” or “most important point.”
Mind Mined	Use “mind,” a noun or verb, when you mean “intellect,” “sense,” or “to obey.” Use “mined,” a verb, when you mean “tunneled” or “excavated.”
Miner Minor	Use “miner,” a noun, when you mean a type of worker. Generally, use “minor,” an adjective or noun, when you mean “lesser” or “a child.”
Mite Might	Use “mite,” a noun, when you mean the animal or an amount of money. Use “might,” a noun or a verb, when you mean “strength” or “a sense of possibility.”
Moral Morale	Use “moral,” an adjective or noun, when you mean “virtuous,” or “a kind of truth.” Use “morale,” a noun, when you mean “a group’s attitude.”
Morn Mourn	Use “morn,” a noun, when you mean the morning. Use “mourn,” a verb, when you mean “to express sorrow.”
No Know	Use “no,” an adjective or adverb, when you mean a denial or “not any.” Use “know,” a verb, when you mean “to recognize,” “to understand,” or “to experience.”

 

Of Have	Use “of” as a preposition—for example, “The scarves were made of silk.” Use “have” as a verb—for example, “The silk scarves have embroidered flowers.”
Outdoor Outdoors	Use “outdoor,” an adjective, to modify a noun. Use “outdoors,” an adverb, to modify a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.
Outwards Outward	Use “outward,” an adjective or adverb, when you mean “outer.” Use “outwards” only as an adverb when you mean “outer” or “toward the outside.”
Peddle Pedal	Use “peddle,” a verb, when you mean “to sell.” Use “pedal,” a noun or verb, when you mean a part of an instrument or machine or to operate with pedals—for example, “The pedal on the bicycle broke.”
Populace Populous	Use “populace,” a noun, when you are referring to people. Use “populous,” an adjective, when you mean “numerous” or “crowded.”
Pray Prey	Use “pray,” a verb, when you mean “to ask” or “to plead.” Use “prey,” a noun, when you mean a hunted animal or a victim.
Pride Pried	Generally, use “pride,” a noun or verb, when you mean “self-respect” or “to be proud.” Use “pried,” a verb, when you mean “to inquire too closely” or “to force open.”
Principal Principle	Use “principal,” an adjective or noun, when you mean “main,” “the main participant,” or “the head of a school.” Use “principle,” a noun, when you mean a rule or a standard.
Prophesy Prophecy	Use “prophesy,” a verb, when you mean “to predict”—for example, “He says he can prophesy the future.” Use “prophecy,” a noun, when you mean “prediction”—for example, “The prophecy came true.”
Prostate Prostrate	Use “prostate,” a noun, when you are referring to the gland. Use “prostrate,” a verb or adjective, when you mean “to bow down” or “lying down.”

 

Rote Wrote	Use “rote,” a noun, when you are referring to a type of speaking. Use “wrote,” a verb, when you mean “having formed letters or words.”
Stationary Stationery	Use “stationary,” an adjective, when you mean “not moving”—for example, “The weather front was stationary.” Use “stationery,” a noun, when you mean “writing paper.”
Team Teem	Use “team,” a noun or verb, when you mean “group” or “to form a team.” Use “teem,” a verb, when you mean “to overflow” or “to swarm.”
That’s Thats	Use “that’s,” a contraction, when you mean “that is.” “Thats” is always incorrect.
Their There They’re	Use “their,” an adjective, when you are indicating possession, as in “their house.” Use “there,” an adverb, when you are referring to a particular location, time, or action—for example, “Sit over there.” Use “they’re,” a contraction, when you mean “they are”—for example, “They’re coming home tomorrow.”
Theirs Their’s	Use “theirs,” a pronoun, when you are indicating possession. “Their’s” is always incorrect.
Tide Tied	Use “tide,” a noun, when you are referring to the rise and fall of the ocean. Use “tied,” a verb, when you mean “bound” or “connected.”
Undo Undue	Use “undo,” a verb, when you mean “to reverse” or “to open.” Use “undue,” an adjective, when you mean “excessive” or “not proper.”
Upwards Upward	Use “upward,” an adjective or adverb, when you mean “overhead,” “above,” or “toward a higher place”—for example, “There was an upward trend in the stock market today.” Use “upwards” only as an adverb when you mean “toward a higher place”—for example, “She looked upwards.”
Urn Earn	Use “urn,” a noun, when you mean “vase.” Use “earn,” a verb, when you mean “to acquire” or “to gain.”
Vein Vain	Use “vein,” a noun, when you are referring to a blood vessel, a fissure, or a mood. Use “vain,” an adjective, when you mean “fruitless” or “proud.”
Who’s Whose	Use “who’s,” a contraction, when you mean “who is.” Use “whose,” a pronoun, to indicate possession—for example, “Whose books are these?”
Wile While	Use “wile,” a noun or verb, when you mean “trick” or “to trick.” Generally, use “while,” a noun or verb, when you are referring to time or an interval of time.
Wither Whither	Use “wither,” a verb, when you mean “to shrivel up” or “to fade.” Use “whither,” an adverb, when you mean “to what place or condition.”
Won’t Wont	Use “won’t,” a contraction, when you mean “will not.” Generally, use “wont,” an adjective, when you mean “accustomed to” or “likely”—for example, “He is wont to do these things.”
Yolk Yoke	Use “yolk”, a noun, when you are referring to a part of an egg. Use “yoke,” a noun or verb, when you mean a type of harness or “to harness.”
You’re Your	Use “you’re,” a contraction, when you mean “you are.” Use “your” when you are indicating possession, as in “your garden.”

This list of English language commonly confused words was compiled by Microsoft Office, and it here purely for educational purposes.