She excepted/accepted his marriage proposal.
Everybody came to the party accept/except Jake.
How many of you have faced difficulties in using similar sounding words – accept or except , affect or effect, canvas or canvass, dissent or descent or decent – and many more ! Well, each one of us has faced such a situation at some point in our writing venture. Sometimes, the difference is in terms of whether you want a noun or a verb – advice (to be used as a noun) and advise ( to be used as a verb). Sometimes, the difference lies in the usage of a word in a particular context – amicable (focus on friendly relationship between people) and amiable (focus on the person’s individual disposition). Most of the times, the difference can be easily perceived, but often when the meaning is clear, we end up using wrong words because of wrong spellings – an ‘a’ and an ‘e’ can confuse too ( as in stationary (at rest ) or stationery (writing paper and other materials) !!
So here is a list of commonly confusing words we come across in English.
Happy Learning ! 🙂
Word | Meaning | Sentence |
Aberrant | Departing from an accepted standard | When the astronomer looked into the telescope, he was shocked by the sight of a star moving in an aberrant path. |
Abhorrent | Inspiring disgust and loathing; repugnant, loathsome | When the citizens learned about the abhorrent crime, they screamed for justice outside the police station. |
The abhorrent individual was spurned by his fellow citizens because of his aberrant behavior. |
Abjure | To give up belief or activity, renounce, relinquish, reject | After the tyrant took over the country, the citizens had to abjure their political beliefs. |
Adjure | Urge or request (someone) solemnly or earnestly to do something. | He adjured the editor to cease posting silly articles. |
The minister adjured his wayward congregation to abjure the sins of the flesh. |
Amoral | Lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something. | Hugh grew up to be an amoral man because his parents never told him the difference between right and wrong. |
Immoral | Not conforming to or violating the accepted standards of morality. | They considered colonialism to be immoral. |
Sometimes it seems more shocking to be amoral than to be immoral. |
Appraise | Assess the value or quality of. | His merits in this respect, however, can only be appraised by the study of his works at first hand. |
Apprise | Inform or tell (someone). | Each week, the teachers apprise parents of their students’ progress by emailing grade reports. |
After we have the jeweler appraise the diamond, we will apprise you of its value. |
Averse | Having a strong dislike of or opposition to something. | As a former CIA director, he is not averse to secrecy. |
Adverse | Preventing success or development; harmful; unfavorable. | Taxes are having an adverse effect on production. |
I am averse to traveling in such adverse weather conditions. |
Allude | Suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at. | The teacher asked the students to not allude to any online sources in their research papers. |
Elude | Escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skillful or cunning way. | He tried to elude the security men by sneaking through a back door |
She would often allude to her childhood, when she would elude her brothers in a game of hide-and-seek. |
Alleviate | Make (suffering, deficiency, or a problem) less severe. | To alleviate hunger in our town, each employee of our company donated five cans of food. |
Ameliorate | Make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better | Not only did he ameliorate your grades, but he also found a way to enjoy learning. |
Government agencies tried to alleviate the effects of the depression. They attempted to ameliorate the job-seeking process. |
Amicable | Friendliness or goodwill between people or group | It was a relatively amicable divorce and at least they remain on speaking terms. |
Amiable | A person’ friendly disposition | One former roommate described him as amiable and talkative |
With amiable people like them, it’s not unusual to have an amicable divorce. |
Afflict | To cause suffering or unhappiness, like what a disease does.(Focus on the sufferer) | It’s also quite likely that he was afflicted with an eating disorder |
Inflict | To force pain or suffering with focus on the person/thing causing the suffering. More aggressive | Five other men accused of taking part in the fight were convicted of hooliganism and inflicting light bodily injury. |
I am afflicted with something terrible, so I inflict injuries upon others. |
Canvas | A strong, coarse unbleached cloth made from hemp, flax, or a similar yarn, used to make items such as sails and tents and as a surface for oil painting. | The painting is oil on canvas. |
Canvass | Solicit votes from (electors or members). | In each ward, two workers canvassed some 2,000 voters. |
We wore canvas shoes while we tried to canvass the entire neighborhood. |
Want to learn more of these words?
I found an excellent site for such words. You can learn more such words here
Reblogged this on Free The Gypsy.
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this pretty much sums all! thanks for sharing 🙂
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@Ediraputri I am glad you found it useful !! 🙂
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