100 Commonly Confused English Words

No.	Term	Definition
1.	accept vs except	Take/receive vs exclude.
2.	adapt vs adopt	Adjust vs take as one’s own.
3.	advise vs advice	Recommend vs recommendation (noun).
4.	affect vs effect	Influence vs result (often noun).
5.	allude vs elude	Refer indirectly vs evade.
6.	alter vs altar	Change vs religious table (noun).
7.	appraise vs apprise	Evaluate vs inform.
8.	assent vs ascent	Agree vs rise/climb (noun).
9.	assume vs presume	Suppose without proof vs suppose likely.
10.	assure vs ensure	Reassure someone vs make certain.
11.	attain vs obtain	Achieve after effort vs get/acquire.
12.	attribute vs contribute	Credit as cause vs give/add.
13.	avoid vs evade	Keep away vs escape responsibility.
14.	awake vs wake	Stop sleeping vs rouse from sleep.
15.	ban vs bar	Prohibit vs block/keep out.
16.	bare vs bear	Expose vs carry/tolerate.
17.	borrow vs lend	Receive temporarily vs give temporarily.
18.	bring vs take	Toward speaker vs away from speaker.
19.	buy vs by	Purchase vs near/through (prep).
20.	can vs may	Ability vs permission/possibility.
21.	capital vs capitol	City/wealth vs government building.
22.	censor vs censure	Suppress content vs criticize formally.
23.	cite vs sight vs site	Quote vs see vs location.
24.	climb vs rise	Go up by effort vs move upward.
25.	close vs clothes	Shut vs garments (noun).
26.	compliment vs complement	Praise vs complete/enhance.
27.	compose vs comprise	Create/make up vs consist of.
28.	conscious vs conscience	Aware vs moral sense.
29.	continual vs continuous	Repeated vs uninterrupted.
30.	council vs counsel	Advisory group vs advice/advise.
31.	credible vs credulous	Believable vs too ready to believe.
32.	defuse vs diffuse	Reduce danger vs spread out.
33.	deny vs refuse	Declare untrue vs decline to accept.
34.	deprecate vs depreciate	Disapprove vs lose value.
35.	desert vs dessert	Abandon vs sweet course.
36.	device vs devise	Gadget vs plan/invent.
37.	discreet vs discrete	Tactful/private vs separate/distinct.
38.	disinterested vs uninterested	Impartial vs not interested.
39.	dissent vs descent	Disagree vs downward movement/ancestry.
40.	do vs due	Perform vs owed/expected.
41.	draw vs drag	Pull lightly vs pull with resistance.
42.	e.g. vs i.e.	For example vs that is.
43.	elicit vs illicit	Draw out vs illegal.
44.	emigrate vs immigrate	Leave a country vs enter a country.
45.	eminent vs imminent	Famous vs about to happen.
46.	empathy vs sympathy	Share feelings vs feel for someone.
47.	envelop vs envelope	Enclose vs paper container.
48.	evoke vs invoke	Bring to mind vs call on formally.
49.	explicit vs implicit	Stated clearly vs implied.
50.	faze vs phase	Disturb vs stage/step.
51.	fewer vs less	Countable vs uncountable amount.
52.	flair vs flare	Talent/style vs burn or widen.
53.	flaunt vs flout	Show off vs disregard openly.
54.	forbear vs forebear	Refrain vs ancestor.
55.	forego vs forgo	Go before vs do without.
56.	formally vs formerly	In formal manner vs previously.
57.	forth vs fourth	Forward/out vs number four.
58.	gibe vs jibe	Taunt vs agree/fit.
59.	gorilla vs guerrilla	Ape vs irregular fighter.
60.	hear vs here	Perceive sound vs this place.
61.	hoard vs horde	Store up vs large group.
62.	hole vs whole	Opening vs entire.
63.	imply vs infer	Suggest indirectly vs conclude from evidence.
64.	its vs it’s	Possessive vs it is/it has.
65.	lay vs lie	Put down vs recline.
66.	lead vs led	Guide vs guided (past tense).
67.	leak vs leek	Let escape vs onion-like plant.
68.	lean vs lien	Incline vs legal claim (noun).
69.	learn vs teach	Gain knowledge vs give instruction.
70.	leave vs let	Depart vs allow.
71.	loath vs loathe	Reluctant vs hate intensely.
72.	lose vs loose	Misplace/fail to win vs not tight.
73.	marry vs wed	Become spouses vs marry (synonym).
74.	may be vs maybe	Possibility phrase vs perhaps.
75.	mediate vs mitigate	Intervene to settle vs lessen severity.
76.	moral vs morale	Ethical vs group spirit.
77.	mute vs moot	Silent vs debatable/irrelevant.
78.	nauseous vs nauseated	Causing nausea vs feeling nausea.
79.	passed vs past	Went by vs earlier time.
80.	patience vs patients	Ability to wait vs people treated.
81.	peace vs piece	Harmony vs part/portion.
82.	peak vs peek vs pique	Summit vs glance vs irritate.
83.	persecute vs prosecute	Harass vs bring legal action.
84.	personal vs personnel	Private/individual vs staff.
85.	persuade vs convince	Win over vs prove to someone.
86.	precede vs proceed	Come before vs go forward.
87.	principal vs principle	Main/head vs rule/belief.
88.	prophecy vs prophesy	Prediction (noun) vs predict (verb).
89.	quiet vs quite	Silent vs fairly/very.
90.	raise vs rise	Lift something vs go up.
91.	rebut vs refute	Argue against vs prove false.
92.	recall vs recollect	Remember vs remember (synonym).
93.	regret vs repent	Feel sorry vs turn away from sin.
94.	respectfully vs respectively	Politely vs in the given order.
95.	revise vs review	Edit/improve vs examine again.
96.	right vs write	Correct vs compose text.
97.	sail vs sale	Travel by boat vs selling event.
98.	scene vs seen	Setting/view vs observed.
99.	seam vs seem	Join line vs appear.
100.	shear vs sheer	Cut off wool vs steep/pure.