Confusing words + help

Common words that sound alike - but have different meanings
Many words sound alike but have very different meanings; students often use these words incorrectly.

Here is some help:
First of all, teach yourself with online information and exercises.
Go to these two web pages for help. Ask your teacher if you are not sure how to use them.

To learn which words are often confused because they sound alike, go to this page:-
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_spelhomo.html

For online exercises (with an answer check at the end of the exercise.
Go to this page:-
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/interact/g_spelhomoEX1.html


Robert L. Fielding


Common words that sound alike : exercises with words in context

Tick the words that are correct in the text below – there are 27 choices to be made.
After you have completed the exercise, using a dictionary, of course, turn the page to see if you were right/write.

English is a very difficult language to learn; I know/no of no/know other which/witch has so many exceptions to its rules.

In addition, so many words in the language sound, look, and are spelled similarly, and yet have totally different meanings.

Let’s begin with words that begin with the first letter of the alphabet; children can be adopted/adoptive, whereas parents who adopt children are adopted/adoptive.

Affect/effect means to make a difference to someone or something, while effect/affect means either a result, or ‘to bring about a result.

Even prefixes/suffixes – parts of words that appear before the word itself, and witch/which affect/effect the meaning of that word can be similarly confusing. The prefix/suffix/affix anti/ante means against, while the prefix/suffix, ante/anti means before.

Not only are some words spelled similarly, but relate to similar concepts or objects; the word aural/oral means relating to the ear, while the similar word aural/oral means related to the mouth or spoken rather than written.

It gets worse though – much worse; illicit/ elicit means to draw out a response or reaction, while elicit/ illicit means forbidden or unlawful.

Simple words like curb and kerb have entirely different meanings; the latter/ former means a check or restraint, while the former/latter refers to the edge of a pavement.

Here in Scotland, the Scottish/Scotch people are not excused from the difficulties of the English language; the original language of this country is known as Gallic/Gaelic, whereas the similarly spelled word Gaelic/Gallic means French.

Finally, as you may have already gathered from your studies, English is both tortuous/torturous, meaning characterized by pain and suffering, and torturous/tortuous, meaning excessively lengthy and complex.

Robert L. Fielding








Answer key

English is a very difficult language to learn; I know of no other which has so many exceptions to its rules.

In addition, so many words in the language sound, look, and are spelled similarly, and yet have totally different meanings.

Let’s begin with words that begin with the first letter of the alphabet; children can be adopted, whereas parents who adopt children are adoptive.

Affect means to make a difference to someone or something, while effect means either a result, or ‘to bring about a result.

Even prefixes – parts of words that appear before the word itself, and which affect the meaning of that word can be similarly confusing. The prefix anti means against, while the prefix, ante means before.

Not only are some words spelled similarly, but relate to similar concepts or objects; the word aural means relating to the ear, while the similar word oral means related to the mouth or spoken rather than written.

It gets worse though – much worse; elicit means to draw out a response or reaction, while illicit means forbidden or unlawful.

Simple words like curb and kerb have entirely different meanings; the former means a check or restraint, while the latter refers to the edge of a pavement.

Here in Scotland, the Scottish/Scotch people are not excused from the difficulties of the English language; the original language of this country is known as Gaelic, whereas the similarly spelled word Gallic means French.

Finally, as you may have already gathered from your studies, English is both torturous, meaning characterized by pain and suffering, and tortuous, meaning excessively lengthy and complex.


Robert L. Fielding