Words Commonly Misused

Here are the Words commonly misused. There are some words that sound or appear similar to others and thus are often wrongly used. If there is any doubt about the meaning of any of such words, a dictionary should be consulted. A wrong word can drastically alter the meaning of what is intended or make no sense at all.

For Example :
1. He applied the brakes.

2. He applied the breaks.
It may seem so obvious that the second sentence is incorrect. But this and other mistakes continue to be made. Such mistakes reduce the effectiveness of a letter and should be avoided.

The following is a list of words that are often misused.



Words Commonly Misused


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  • Accept, Except

  • Access, Assess

  • Adapt, Adopt

  • Advice, Advise

  • Affect, Effect

  • Allusion, Illusion

  • Alternate, Alternative

  • Angle, Angel

  • Appraise, Apprise

  • Assure, Insure

  • Biannual, Biennial

  • Birth, Berth

  • Born, Borne

  • Brakes, Breaks

  • Buy, By

  • Canvas, Canvass

  • Cease, Seize

  • Clothes, Cloths

  • Check, Cheque

  • Complement, Compliment

  • Course, Coarse

  • Co-Operation

  • Correspondents, Correspondence

  • Council, Counsel

  • Current, Currant

  • Curtsey, Courtesy

  • Cue, Queue

  • Deceased, Diseased

  • Dependant, Dependent

  • Desert, Dessert

  • Device, Devise

  • Diary, Dairy

  • Draft, Draught

  • Dying, Dyeing

  • Elicit, Illicit

  • Emigrate, Immigrate, Migrate Eminent, Imminent

  • Ensure, Insure

  • Envelop, Envelope

  • Expand, Expend

  • Faint, Feint

  • Fair, Fare

  • Flare, Flair

  • Flout, Flaunt

  • Forebear, Forbear

  • Formally, Formerly

  • Fortuitous, Fortunate

  • Great, Grate

  • Heard, Herd

  • Honorary, Honorable

  • Knew, New

  • Know, No

  • Lead, Led

  • Licence, License

  • Lightening, Lightning

  • Mail, Male

  • Our, Hour

  • Palate, Palette, Pallet

  • Paltry, Poultry

  • Partition, Petition

  • Passed, Past

  • Peace, Piece

  • Personal, Personnel

  • Plum, Plumb

  • Populace, Populous

  • Practice, Practice

  • Precede, Proceed

  • Principal, Principle

  • Prophecy, Prophesy

  • Quiet, Quite

  • Rack, Wrack

  • Read, Red

  • Resource, Recourse

  • Rest, Wrest

  • Sail, Sale

  • Stationary, Stationery

  • There, Their

  • Trial, Trail

  • Vacation, Vocation

  • Wring, Ring

  • Write, Right



    • Words Commonly Misused


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    Words Commonly Misspelled



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