Confusing words
28 pairs that look alike, sound alike or mean nearly the same thing. Each has a rule you can remember and two example sentences.
- actually / currentlyActually means in fact, and often corrects an idea.
- advice / adviseAdvice is an uncountable noun (some advice, a piece of advice).
- affect / effectAffect is usually a verb meaning to influence.
- beside / besidesBeside means next to.
- bring / takeBring moves something towards the speaker or the place being talked about.
- economic / economicalEconomic means about the economy.
- everyday / every dayEveryday (one word) is an adjective meaning ordinary: everyday life.
- fewer / lessUse fewer with plural countable nouns (fewer people, fewer cars) and less with uncountable nouns (less time, less money).
- fun / funnyFun is enjoyable or enjoyment: a fun evening, a lot of fun.
- hard / hardlyHard as an adverb means with great effort: work hard.
- hear / listenHear happens without effort: sounds reach your ears.
- historic / historicalHistoric means important in history: a historic victory.
- its / it'sIts (no apostrophe) shows possession: the dog wagged its tail.
- late / latelyLate means after the expected time.
- learn / teachYou learn a skill from someone; someone teaches you.
- lend / borrowYou lend something to someone (give it for a time).
- lie / layLie down has no object (lie, lay, lain).
- lose / looseLose (rhymes with shoes) is a verb: to fail to keep something.
- maybe / may beMaybe is an adverb meaning perhaps and usually starts a sentence.
- principal / principlePrincipal means main, or is the head of a school or college (the usual title in American English).
- raise / riseRise has no object: prices rise (rose, risen).
- remember / remindYou remember something yourself.
- say / tellTell is followed by a person: tell me, tell her the truth.
- sensible / sensitiveSensible means practical and showing good judgement.
- since / forUse since with a point in time (since 2019, since Monday).
- steal / robYou steal things (steal a bike) and rob people or places (rob a bank, rob a tourist).
- than / thenThan is used for comparing: taller than me.
- win / beatYou win a game, a prize or a match.