Most spellcheck and grammar check programs are useful, but they are far from perfect. An author might have spelled a word correctly but used it incorrectly, or we might have used the wrong homonym. These are issues that free grammar and spelling tools are not likely to correct. Raise your hand if you’ve been guilty of mixing up words that sounded similar but had different meanings. Hand raised! Sometimes, those mistakes can even be embarrassing, right? Well, never fear! We are here to explain how to correctly use 40 of the most easily confused English words and save you from embarrassing blunders!
Accept vs. Except
Advice vs. Advise
Affect vs. Effect
Among vs. Between
Assure vs. Ensure vs. Insure
Bare vs. Bear
Climatic vs. Climactic
Complement vs. Compliment
Disinterested vs. Uninterested
Economic vs. Economical
Elicit vs. Illicit
Farther vs. Further
Historic vs. Historical
Imply vs. Infer
It’s vs. Its
Lay vs. Lie
Principal vs. Principle
Stationary vs. Stationery
Than vs. Then
Their vs. There vs. They’re
Also available in 简体中文, 繁體中文, Türkçe
For more instruction on academic writing, visit our Academic Resources page. And to receive expert revision on any written document, check out our all-in professional proofreading services.
