Confusables – Easily Confused Words

                 

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