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Strengthen your vocabulary.
Posted Date: 18 Feb 2008 Resource Type: Articles/Knowledge Sharing Category: Placement Papers
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Posted By: Ramkumar Member Level: Diamond
Rating:  Points: 5
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1. Assent/Consent :
Both the words indicate agreement. However, there is a subtle difference between the two. Assent is largely a matter of approval whereas consent is a matter of expressing one's willingness to do something.
2. Accede/Exceed:
Exceed is crossing a certain limit. Accede is a much rarer word meaning give in or agree.
3. Accept/ Except :
If you offer me chocolates I will gladly accept them--except for the candied violet ones. Just remember that the "X" in "except" excludes things-they tend to stand out, be different.
4. Adapt/Adopt:
In the case of making an object your own i.e. accepting it you adopt whereas adapt means to change something or change according to something.
5. Adverse/Averse:
The word adverse means difficult circumstances but people often confuse this word with averse, a word that means having a strong feeling against, or aversion towards.
6. Advice/Advise:
Advice is the noun, advise the verb.
7. Affect/Effect:
There are four distinct words here. When "affect" is accented on the final syllable (a-FECT), it is a verb meaning-"have an influence on." A much rarer meaning is indicated when the word is accented on the first syllable (AFF-ect), meaning "emotion." The real problem arises when people confuse the first spelling with the second: Effect. This too can be two different words. The more common one is a noun: "When I left the stove on, the effect was that the house filled with smoke." When you affect a situation, you have an effect on it. The less common is a verb meaning "to create": "I'm trying to effect a change in the way we purchase widgets." No wonder people are confused.
8. Allude/Elude:
Allude is to refer whereas elude is escape from captivity.
9. Allusion/Illusion:
An allusion is a reference, something you allude to. A mirage, hallucination, or a magic trick is an illusion.
10. Altar/Alter:
An altar is that platform at the front of a church or in a temple; to alter something is to change it.
11. Ambiguous/Ambivalent:
Even though the prefix "ambi-" means "both," "ambiguous" has come to mean "unclear," "undefined," while "ambivalent" means "torn between two opposing feelings or views.
12. Amoral/Immoral:
Amoral is a rather technical word meaning "unrelated to morality." And, when you denounce someone's behavior, it is termed as "immoral."
13. Amount/ Number:
Amount relates to a quantity of things that are measured in bulk & number is to things that can be counted.
14. Anxious/Eager:
Most people use "anxious" interchangeably with "eager," but its original meaning had to do with worrying, being full of anxiety. On the other hand, eager refers to a situation you are looking forward to or a happy event.
15. Apropos/Appropriate:
Apropos, (anglicized from the French phrase "à propos") means relevant, connected with what has gone before; it should not be used as an all-purpose substitute for "appropriate."
16. Assure/Insure/Ensure:
To assure a person of something is to make him or her confident of it. To ensure means to make certain that something happens and to "insure" is to issue an insurance policy.
17. Bear/Bare:
There are actually three words here. Bear is the big growly creature in jungles. Alternatively, the verb bear, such as in the expression "Bear with me," is a request for forbearance or patience. In contrast, bare means minimum of things.
18. Beside/Besides:
Besides can mean "in addition to." Beside, in contrast, usually means "next to."
19. Breath/Breathe:
When you need to breathe, you take a breath. "Breathe" is the verb, "breath" the noun.
20 By/Bye/Buy:
These are probably confused with each other more often through haste than through actual ignorance, but "by" is the common preposition in phrases like "you should know by now." It can also serve a number of other functions, but the main point here is not to confuse "by" with the other two spellings: "'bye" is an abbreviated form of "goodbye", and "buy" is the verb meaning "purchase." "Buy" can also be a noun, as in "that was a great buy."
21. Capitol/Capital:
A "capitol" is always a building. Capital is the parent place of a certain city or country.
22. Carat/Carrot/Karat/Caret:
"Carrots" are crunchy orange vegetables. Precious stones like diamonds are weighed in carats. The same word is used to express the proportion of pure gold in an alloy, though in this usage it is sometimes spelled "karat." As for caret, it is a proofreader's mark showing where something needs to be inserted, shaped like a tiny-pitched roof.
23. Cite/Site/Sight:
You cite the author in an endnote; you visit a Web site or the site of the crime, and you sight your favourite dog running towards you in slow motion.
23. Coarse/Course:
"Coarse" is always an adjective meaning "rough, crude." Unfortunately, this spelling is often mistakenly used for a quite different word, "course," which can be either a verb or a noun i.e. a lesson or meal.
24. Compare to/Compare with:
These are sometimes interchangeable, but when you are stressing similarities between the items compared, the most common word is "to." But, if you are examining both similarities and differences, use "with."
25. Complement/Compliment:
Originally these two spellings were used interchangeably, but they have come to be distinguished from each other in modern times. Most of the time the word people intend is compliment: Nice things said about someone. Complement, much less common, has a number of meanings associated with matching or completing. Complements supplement each other, each adding something what the other lacks.
26. Council/Counsel/Consul:
The first two words are pronounced the same but have distinct meanings. An official group that deliberates is a council; all the rest are counsels like your lawyer, advice, etc. A consul is a local representative of a foreign government. 27. Criteria/Criterion There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. You can have one criterion or many criteria.
28. Defuse/Diffuse:
You defuse a dangerous situation by treating it like a bomb and removing its fuse; to diffuse, in contrast, is to spread something out.
29. Degrade/Denigrate/Downgrade:
Many people use downgrade instead of denigrate to mean defame or slander. Downgrade is entirely different in meaning. When something is downgraded, it is lowered in grade (usually made worse), not just considered worse.
30. Depreciate/Deprecate:
To depreciate something is to actually make it worse, whereas to deprecate something is simply to speak or think of it in a manner that demonstrates your low opinion of it.
31. Desert/ Dessert:
An impoverished stretch of sand called a desert. In contrast, that rich creamy sweet at the end of the meal is called a dessert.
32. Device/ Devise:
Device is a noun. A can-opener is a device. Devise is a verb. You can devise a plan for opening a can with a sharp rock instead.
33. Dominate/Dominant:
The verb is dominate the adjective is dominant.
34. Dryer/Drier:
A clothes dryer makes the clothes drier.
35. Dyeing/Dying:
Change of color is dyeing. And, if your hear beat stops then it indicates that you are dying.
36. Elicit/Illicit:
The lawyer tries to elicit a description of the attacker from the witness. Elicit is always a verb. Illicit, in contrast, is always an adjective describing something illegal or naughty.
37. Emigrate/Immigrate:
To emigrate is to leave a country. The E at the beginning of the word is related to the E in other words having to do with going out, such as exit. Immigrate, in contrast, looks as if it might have something to do with going in, and indeed it does: it means to move into a new country.
38. Eminent/Imminent/Immanent:
By far the most common of these words is eminent, meaning prominent, famous. Imminent, in phrases like facing imminent disaster, means threatening. Positive events can also be imminent: they just need to be coming soon. The rarest of the three is immanent, used by philosophers to mean inherent and by theologians to mean present throughout the universe when referring to God.
39. Empathy/Sympathy:
If you think you feel just like another person, you are showing empathy. If you just feel sorry for another person, you are showing sympathy.
40. Enquire/Inquire:
These are alternative spellings of the same word. Enquire is perhaps slightly more common in the UK, but either is acceptable in the US
41. Envelop/Envelope:
To wrap something up in a covering is to envelop it. The specific wrapping you put around a letter is an envelope.
42. Exalt/Exult:
When you celebrate joyfully, you exult. When you raise something high (even if only in your opinion), you exalt it.
43. Fare/Fair:
Fare refers to performance whereas Fair as a verb is a word meaning a smooth surface.
44. Farther/Further:
Farther at times refers to physical distance and further to an extent of time or degree but some treat the two words as interchangeable except for insisting on further for in addition, and moreover.
45. Flammable/Inflammable: The prefix "in" does not indicate negation here; it comes from the word inflame. Flammable and inflammable both mean easy to catch on fire.
46. Footnotes/Endnotes:
About the time that computers began to make the creation and printing of footnotes extremely simple and cheap, style manuals began to urge a shift away from them to endnotes printed at the ends of chapters or at the end of a book or paper rather than at the foot of the page.
47. For/Fore/Four:
The most common member of this trio is the preposition for, which is not a problem for most people. Fore always has to do with the front of something. And, Four is just the number 4.
48. Forbidding/Foreboding/Formidable:
Foreboding means ominous. A forbidding person or task refers to something hostile or dangerous. Formidable, which originally meant fear-inducing has come to be used primarily as a compliment meaning awe-inducing.
49. Fortuitous/Fortunate:
Fortuitous events happen by chance; they need not be fortunate events, only random ones.
50. Fowl/Foul:
A chicken is a fowl. A poke in the eye is a foul.
51. Gaff/Gaffe:
Gaffe is a French word meaning embarrassing mistake, and should not be mixed up with Gaff-- a large hook.
52. Gibe/Jibe/Jive:
Gibe is a now rare term meaning to tease. Jibe means to agree, but is usually used negatively. It is often confused with Jive, which derives from slang that originally meant to treat in a jazzy manner but also came to be associated with deception.
53. Gig/Jig:
Jig refers to the old slang expression that means --the game is over & we're caught! A musician's job is a gig.
54. Hangar/Hanger:
You park your plane in a hangar but hang up your slacks on a hanger.
55. Hear/Here:
Hear refers to listening whereas here indicates as if you are calling someone.
56. Heroin/Heroine:
Heroin is a highly addictive opium derivative & the main female character in a narrative is a heroine.
57. Incident/Instances/Incidence:
These three overlap in meaning just enough to confuse a lot of people. Few of us have a need for incidence, which most often refers to degree or extent of the occurrence of something. Incidents, which is pronounced identically, is merely the plural of incident, meaning occurrences. Instances are examples. Incidents can be used as instances only if someone is using them as examples.
58. Instances/Instants:
Brief moments are instants, and examples of anything are instances.
59. Interment/ Interment:
Interment is burial; internment is merely imprisonment
60. Its/It's:
The exception to the general rule that one should use an apostrophe to indicate possession is in possessive pronouns. Just remember two points and you'll never make this mistake again. (1) "It's" always means "it is" or "it has" and nothing else. (2) Try changing the "its" in your sentence to "his" and if it doesn't make sense, then go with "it's."
61. Jew/Jewish:
Jew as an adjective is an ethnic insult. The expression "to Jew someone down"--an expression meaning "to bargain for a lower price"--reflects a grossly insulting stereotype and should be avoided in all contexts. However, Jewish refers to a race of people.
62. Kick Start/Jump Start:
If you want a sudden revival then use the term jump-start. But, kick-start is just a normal way of getting something started.
63. Later/Latter:
Except in the expression "latter-day" (modern), the word latter usually refers back to the last-mentioned of a set of alternatives. In other contexts not referring back to such a list, the word you want is later.
64. Legend/Myth:
Myths are generally considered to be traditional stories whose importance lies in their significance; whereas legends can be merely famous deeds like the legend of Davy Crockett. In common usage myth usually implies fantasy. Legends may or may not be true.
65. Liable/Libel:
If you are likely to do something you are liable to do it; and if a debt can legitimately be charged to you, you are liable for it. A person who defames you with a false accusation libels you.
66. Lose/Loose:
This confusion can easily be avoided if you pronounce the word intended aloud. If it has a voiced Z sound, then it is lose. If it has a hissy S sound, then it's loose.
67. Mantle/Mantel:
Though they stem from the same word, a mantle is usually a cloak, while the shelf over a fireplace is most often spelled mantel.
68. May/Might:
Most of the time might and may are almost interchangeable, with might suggesting a somewhat lower probability. But might is also the past tense of the auxiliary verb may so while speculating that events might have been other than they were, don't substitute may for might.
69. Maybe/ May Be:
Maybe is an adverb meaning perhaps, so if you are uncertain whether to use this word or the phrase may be, try substituting perhaps. But. when you are wondering whether you may be waiting in the wrong cafe, you're dealing with a verb and its auxiliary: may be-two words.
70. Medium/Median:
That strip of grass separating the lanes going opposite directions in the middle of a freeway is a median. Medium refers to something average.
71. Moral/Morale:
If you are trying to make people behave properly, you are policing their morals; if you are just trying to keep their spirits up, you are trying to maintain their morale. "Moral" is accented on the first syllable, "morale" on the second.
72. Nauseated/Nauseous:
Many people say, when sick to their stomachs, that they feel nauseous but traditionalists insist that this word should be used to describe something that makes you want to throw up: something nauseating. Better to say you are nauseated, or simply that you feel like throwing up.
73. Ordinance/Ordnance:
A law is an ordinance, but a gun is a piece of ordnance.
74. Oversee/ Overlook:
When you oversee a preparation, you take control and manage the operation closely. But if you overlook a preparation you forget entirely
75. Palate/ Pallet / Palette:
Your palate is the roof of your mouth, and by extension, your sense of taste. A palette is the flat board an artist mixes paint on (or by extension, a range of colors). A pallet is either a bed (now rare) or a flat platform onto which goods are loaded.
76. Parameters/Perimeters:
Parameters define standards. A parameter is a quantity or constant that varies depending on the instance being examined. The parameters of distance between the axles of a car and its turning radius are related. The perimeter of something is its boundary or limit. The two words shade into each other because we often speak of factors of an issue or problem being parameters, simultaneously thinking of them as limits; but this is to confuse two distinct, if related ideas.
77. Peak/Pique/Peek:
Peak is reaching the highest point. Peek refers to situations where you want to give vent to your curiosity. Pique is a French word meaning prick, in the sense of stimulate.
78. Persecute/ Prosecute:
When you persecute someone, you're treating them badly, whether they deserve it or not; but only legal officers can prosecute someone for a crime.
79. Perspective/Prospective:
Perspective has to do with sight, as in painting, and is usually a noun. Prospective generally has to do with the future and is usually an adjective. But beware: there is also a rather old-fashioned but fairly common meaning of the word prospect that has to do with sight--As he climbed the mountain, a vast prospect opened up before him.
80. Phenomena/Phenomenon:
There are several words with Latin or Greek roots whose plural forms ending in A are constantly mistaken for singular ones. It's this phenomenon, but these phenomena!
81. Pole/Poll:
A pole is a long stick whereas poll is a survey or ballot to determine voter interests.
82. Pour/Pore:
When used as a verb, pore has the unusual sense of scrutinize. But, if it refers to coffee or rain, it is pour.
83. Practice/Practise:
In the UK, practice is the noun, practise the verb; but in the US practice is commonly used for both though the distinction is sometimes observed. Practise as a noun is, however, always wrong in both places.
84. Premier/Premiere:
These words are, respectively, the masculine and feminine forms of the word for "first" in French; but they have become differentiated in English. The confusion arises when these words are used as nouns. Premiere as a verb is common in the arts and in show business, but it is less acceptable in other contexts.
85. Prescribe/Proscribe:
You recommend something when you prescribe it, but you forbid it when you proscribe it.
86. Quiet/Quite:
Often one sees quite (very) as a good substitute for quiet (shhh!).
87.Rack/Wrack:
If you are racked with pain or you feel nerve-racked, you are feeling as if you were being stretched on that medieval instrument of torture, the rack. Wrack, on the other hand, has to do with ruinous accidents.
88. Rebut/Refute:
When you rebut someone's argument you argue against it. To refute someone's argument is to prove it incorrect.
89. Recent/Resent:
Recent, always pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S and with the accent on the first syllable, means not long ago. Resent has two different meanings with two different pronunciations, both with the accent on the second syllable. In the most common case, where resent means feel bad about, the word is pronounced with a voiced Z sound. In the less common case, the word means--to send again, and is pronounced with an unvoiced hissy S sound.
90. Reign/Rein:
A king or queen reigns, but you rein in a horse. The expression "to give rein" means to give in to an impulse as a spirited horse gives in to its impulse to gallop when you slacken the reins.
91. Remuneration/ Renumeration:
Although remuneration looks as if it might mean repayment it usually means simply payment. In speech it is often confused with renumeration i.e. re-counting or counting again.
92. Repel/Repulse:
If you are disgusted by someone, you are repelled, not repulsed.
93. Role/Roll:
An actor plays a role. But you eat on a roll and roll out the barrel.
94. Sail/Sell/Sale:
You sail on a boat that has a sail of canvas. Sell is act of giving something away at a price and sale is an activity where you purchase items at a discounted price.
95. Sacred/Scared:
Sacred is something religious and close to heart whereas scared is something you are afraid of.
96. Sarcastic/Ironic:
Not all ironic comments are sarcastic. Sarcasm is meant to mock or wound. Irony can be amusing without being maliciously aimed at hurting anyone.
97. Seam/Seem:
Seem is the verb whereas seam the noun. Use seam only for things like the line produced when two pieces of cloth are sewn together or a thread of coal in a geological formation.
98. Shall/Will:
Will has almost entirely replaced shall in American English except in legal documents.
99. Stationary/Stationery:
When something is standing still, it's stationary whereas, the piece of paper you write a letter on is stationery.
100. Summary/Summery:
When the weather is warm it is called summery. Alternatively, summary refers to a short document that provides you the gist of the long report.
101 Taught/Taut:
Taught refers to teaching whereas taut means tight.
102 Than/Then:
Than is the word you want when doing comparisons. But if you are talking about time, choose then.
103: They're/there/their:
Many people are so spooked by apostrophes that a word like "they're" seems to them as if it might mean almost anything. In fact, it's always a contraction of "they are." If you've written they're, ask yourself whether you can substitute "they are." If not, you've made a mistake. "Their" is a possessive pronoun like "her" or "our". Hint: "There" has "Here" buried inside it to remind you it refers to place, while "Their" has "heir" buried in it to remind you that it has to do with possession.
104 Though/Thought/Through:
Although most of us know the differences between these words people often type one of them when they mean another. Spelling checkers won't catch this sort of slip, so look out for it.
105 To/Two/Too:
People seldom mix "two" up with the other two; it obviously belongs with words that also begin with TW, like "twice" and "twenty" that involve the number 2. But the other two are confused all the time. Just remember too comes when you refer to something in "in excess." "To" is the proper spelling for all the other uses.
106 Use to/ Used to:
Because the D and the T are blended into a single consonant when this phrase is pronounced, many writers are unaware that the D is even present and omit it in writing.
107 Vary/very:
"Vary" means "to change." Don't substitute it for "very" in phrases like "very nice" or "very happy."
108 Verses/Versus:
The "vs." in a law case like "Brown vs. The Board of Education" stands for Latin versus (meaning against). Don't confuse it with the word for lines of poetry--verses--when describing other conflicts, like the upcoming football game featuring Oakesdale versus Pinewood.
109 Viola/Voila:
A viola is a flower or a musical instrument. The expression that means behold is voila. It comes from a French expression meaning look there! In French it is spelled with a grave accent over the A, as voilà, but when it was adopted into English, it lost its accent.
110 Warrantee/Warranty:
Warrantee is a rare legal term that means the person to whom a warrant is made. Although guarantee can be a verb, warranty cannot be.
111 Wary/weary/leery:
People sometimes write weary (tired) when they mean wary (cautious) which is a close synonym with "leery" which in the psychedelic era was often misspelled Leary.
112 Weather/Whether:
The climate is made up of weather; whether it is nice out depends on whether it is raining or not.
113: Whilst/While:
Although whilst is a perfectly good traditional synonym of while, in American usage it is considered pretentious and old-fashioned.
114: Xmas/Christmas:
Xmas is not originally an attempt to exclude Christ from Christmas, but uses an abbreviation of the Greek spelling of the word "Christ" with the "X" representing the Greek letter chi. However, so few people know this that it is probably better not to use this popular abbreviation in religious contexts.
115: Yea/Yeah/Yay:
Yea is a very old-fashioned formal way of saying yes, used mainly in voting. When you want to write the common casual version of "yes," the correct spelling is yeah. And, when there is a much awaited announcement made the term used is yay!
116: Yoke/Yolk:
The yellow center of an egg is its yolk & the link that holds two oxen together is a yoke.
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