Confusables Words

[arsa]

here the list of CONFUSABLES Words with slight variation in spelling but sounding similar and having different meanings.

Confusables List 1

-->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.


Confusables List 2
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