Commonly Confused English Words

English can be quite a confusing language at times, as there are many words that are commonly mistaken for other words. If you are just learning English or if you would like to improve your writing, it would be wise to remember some of these commonly confused words.

The difference between the words accept, “to receive” and except, “to leave out”, is vast, but these two words are often mistaken for one another because they sound so similar. Affect means “to influence” and effect means” to accomplish or to result in something”. An allusion is “a reference to something that is indirect” and an illusion is “something that seems like reality but is false”. There are many words like this. Some more are through, threw, thorough, though and thru. Of these words, thru isn’t really correct. It’s a slang word which means that someone is through. Though means “however,” thorough means “complete,” threw is the past tense of throw and through is “by means of; into or out of,” as in: She ran through the finish line. All of these words sound very similar to one another.

Another important cluster of words to remember is too, two and to. To is “toward,” too is “also” and two refers to the number. The word “than” is used when comparing two things and “then” means “at that time” of “after.” Stationary means that something is standing still and stationery refers to writing paper.

There are some words that area often misspelled. A lot means many, and alot is a misspelling. The same goes for believe, which is correct, and beleive, which is not. It’s important to pay attention to the rule “I before E, except after C.” This simply means that in most words in English, if an “e” and an “i” come together in a word, the “e” will come first, unless there is a c preceding the “ei.”

Take a look at these sentences. Only one of them is correct – can you tell which one it is?

I wanted to except the gift, but it was much too lavish for me.
I wanted accept the gift, but it was much too lavish for me.

I want too go two the movies. I want to go too the movies.

I want to go to the movies, too.

In each example, the last sentence is the correct one. English may be confusing at times but surely you can master the language if you remember these rules.