Not only does the words conscious and conscience confuse people with their spelling, their similar sounds also result in mixups with their uses. Both words have something to do with a person’s mind but they have very distinct meanings.
The term conscious is an adjective used to refer to state of being “aware of and responding to one’s surroundings or awake.” It may also mean that a person is “painfully aware of or sensitive to” something. Below are examples of how to use the term:
“How subtle changes in our bodies affect conscious awareness and decision confidence”
The Conversation UK“Conscious Innovation in the Age of Millennials”
Danbury News Times“Are We Conscious During Dreamless Sleep?”
NPR
On the other hand, term conscience is a noun used to refer to “an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one’s behavior” or “the complex of ethical and moral principles that controls or inhibits the actions or thoughts of an individual.” In movies and cartoons, conscience is represented by a tiny angel above a person’s shoulder who whispers the right thing to do. Here are some examples of the proper use of the term:
“Hexagon CEO says conscience clear over Norwegian insider trading probe”
Reuters“Russia: Shocking new torture allegations by prisoner of conscience must be investigated”
Amnesty International“Utah Is the Political Conscience of the Nation”
Bloomberg
There are several tricks to remembering which term to use. Take note that the word conscious deals with the awareness of a person’s surroundings while conscience deals with their own morality. Also, you can notice there is an en in both listen and conscience because you have to listen to your conscience while there is an ou in both conscious and surroundings because you have to be conscious of your surroundings.
