Choose your words

Caught between words?

Don't be confused!
Learn how to make the right choice.

Abhorrent describes something truly horrible like finding a dead rat in your soup, but something aberrant is just abnormal, like a cat in a pink fedora. Continue reading...

To accept is to receive, and except is to exclude, usually. Both are busy little words skipping around to different meanings, but they never run into each other. Continue reading...

"Adopt, adapt, and improve," says the thief in a Monty Python skit when he robs a lingerie shop instead of a bank. Adopt is to take something over, and to adapt is to change something to suit your needs. It’s helpful advice when you ask for money and get a pair of granny panties. Continue reading...

Adverse and averse are both turn-offs, but adverse is something harmful, and averse is a strong feeling of dislike. Rainstorms can cause adverse conditions, and many people are averse to rain. Continue reading...

Choosing between affect and effect can be scary. Think of Edgar Allen Poe and his RAVEN: Remember Affect Verb Effect Noun. You can’t affect the creepy poem by reading it, but you can enjoy the effect of a talking bird. Continue reading...

Both afflict and inflict cause pain, but afflict means to cause suffering or unhappiness, something a disease does, but inflict means to force pain or suffering, like if you smack someone upside the head. Continue reading...

Aggravate means to make something worse, and irritate is to annoy. But if you use aggravate to mean “annoy,” no one will notice. That battle has been lost in all but the most formal writing. Continue reading...

Allude is coy, to allude is to refer to something in an indirect manner. But elude’s favorite thing to do is hide from the cops; it means to evade. Because the accent is on the second syllable in both words, it’s easy to get them mixed up. Continue reading...

Novelists, magicians, and other tricksters keep these words busy. Novelists love an allusion, an indirect reference to something like a secret treasure for the reader to find; magicians heart illusions, or fanciful fake-outs; but tricksters suffer from delusions, ideas that have no basis in reality. Continue reading...

To alternate is to take turns; an alternative is an option. When you wear your checkered blazer, the black and white squares alternate. But if you’re not feeling like an ’80s guitar hero, the green plaid jacket is a nice alternative. Continue reading...

Something ambiguous is unclear or vague, like the end of a short story that leaves you scratching your head. But if you're ambivalent about something, you can take it or leave it. Whatever. Continue reading...

Amicable refers to a friendliness or goodwill between people or groups. Amiable refers to one person’s friendly disposition. A group might have an amicable meeting, because the people there are amiable. Continue reading...

Both have to do with right and wrong, but amoral means having no sense of either, like a fish, but the evil immoral describes someone who knows the difference, doesn’t care, and says “mwah ha ha” while twirling a mustache. Continue reading...

An anecdote is a funny little story; an antidote counteracts poison. Tell someone an anecdote about your close encounter with a rattlesnake and how the cute park ranger had to get you the antidote for snake venom right away. Continue reading...

To appraise is to estimate the value of something, but remove the second “a,” and you have apprise, which means “to tell.” If you hire someone to appraise your house, you might have to apprise your family of the fact that you now owe the bank more than your house is worth. Continue reading...

Assume and presume both mean to believe something before it happens, but when you assume you’re not really sure. If someone bangs on your door in the middle of the night, you might assume (and hope!) it’s your crazy neighbor. If your neighbor knocks on your door every night at 6:30, at 6:29 you can presume she’s coming over in a minute. Continue reading...

Although these three often show up at the same party, giving hugs, they’re not the same, thank you very much. To assure is to tell someone everything’s ok, to ensure is to make certain, and to insure is to protect financially. Have it straight now? Are you sure? Continue reading...

Aural refers to the ear or hearing, and oral to the mouth or speaking. Something verbal is expressed in words, either spoken or written. Listen to the aural sensations of songs from outer space when you’ve been gassed for your oral surgery. Then stay non-verbal because you can’t use words for a long time after the dentist wakes you up. Continue reading...

Bazaar and bizarre might sound alike but a bazaar is a market and bizarre describes something kooky. There could be a bizarre bazaar run by monkeys selling people feet. Continue reading...

Bridal is related to a bride, but bridle refers to a part of a horse’s harness and what you do with it. Although the words sound the same, they run in different circles unless you’re getting a horse ready for her wedding. Continue reading...

Aha! A capital is a stash of money or the government headquarters of a state. Oh, a capitol is a building. Continue reading...

A censor hides information. A censure is harsh criticism. They’re both judgments and they both stink. Continue reading...

All are good for research papers: cite is short for citation, site is a place, and sight is what your eyeballs are for. The Web has a lot to answer for, good and bad. One item in the minus column is the increased popularity of site and people throwing these sound-alikes all over the place! Continue reading...

Climactic describes the high point, the most intense part of a movie, play, song, or, well, anything. Climatic refers to the climate, like the climatic changes that turned Santa’s workshop into a sauna for elves. Continue reading...

Both are awesome on a first date — complement means to complete something, and a compliment is flattering. If you feel you and your new friend complement each other, maybe it’s because he’s been giving you so many compliments like when he says you look like a supermodel. Continue reading...

Compose is to make up a whole, and comprise is to contain parts. Poodles compose the dog class because the class comprises poodles. The parts compose the whole, and the whole comprises the parts. Confused? Everybody else is! Continue reading...

Bad guys don’t like these words because they often describe jail terms: concurrent means at the same time, and consecutive means one after the other in a series. Con artists would rather serve concurrent terms and get them over with, instead of consecutive ones. Continue reading...

Confident is how you feel on a good hair day, but a confidant is the person you tell when you’re secretly wearing a wig. It's no wonder that these words are so easily confused: they were once both confident. Continue reading...

Don’t let the rhyme fool you — to connote is to imply a meaning or condition, and to denote is to define exactly. Connote is like giving a hint, but to denote is to refer to something outright. Continue reading...

Both words have to do with the mind, but it’s more important to be conscious, or awake, than conscience, or aware of right and wrong. Remain conscious while listening to your friend’s moral dilemma so you can use your conscience to give good advice. Continue reading...

Something contemptible is worthy of scorn, like the contemptible jerk who’s mean to your sister; but contemptuous is full of it, like the contemptuous look you give that guy as he speeds away in his gas guzzler. Continue reading...

The words continual and continuous are like twins: they both come from continue, but they get mad if you get them confused. Continual means start and stop, while continuous means never-ending. Continue reading...

A correlation is exactly what it sounds like: a co-relation, or relationship — like the correlation between early birds waking up and the sun rising. But corollary is more like a consequence, like the corollary of the rooster crowing because you smacked it in the beak. Both words love the math lab but can hang with the rest of us, too. Continue reading...

A council is meeting for discussion or advice, but to counsel is a verb meaning to give advice. They sound exactly the same, but the language council met and decided to counsel you on how to keep them straight. Continue reading...

Decent is all buttoned up. Descent has all the fun because it gets to climb down a mountain. Dissent is what you do when the glee club wants to get matching red outfits but you like purple. Continue reading...

To demur is to show reluctance or to hesitate, like not quite getting in the car when someone opens the door, but demure isalways an adjective describing a modest, reserved, or shy person, and sounds like the mew of a tiny kitten. Continue reading...

Disassemble is to take something apart, like an old car motor, but dissemble is sneaky — it means to hide your true self, like the guy who said he was a mechanic but had never actually seen a motor, much less put one back together. Continue reading...

To discomfit is to embarrass someone. Say it with a Southern accent while sipping sweet tea. Discomfort is a noun meaning uncomfortable, like the feeling you get when you realize you put salt instead of sugar in Mama’s tea. Continue reading...

Discreet means on the down low, under the radar, careful, but discrete means individual or detached. They come from the same ultimate source, the Latin discrētus, for separated or distinct, but discreet has taken its own advice and quietly gone its separate way. Continue reading...

If you’re disinterested, you’re unbiased; you’re out of the loop. But if you’re uninterested, you don’t give a hoot; you’re bored. These two words have been duking it out, but the battle may be over for uninterested. Heavyweight disinterested has featherweight uninterested on the ropes. Continue reading...

Seeing double? Not quite! Dual is two, or double, but a duel is a fight. If you’re getting sick of your fair-weather friend’s dual personality, perhaps you should throw down your glove and challenge him to a duel at high noon. Continue reading...

Economic is all about how money works, but something economical is a good deal. You might take an economic studiesclass to understand the ebb and flow of cash in the world, but if you buy a used textbook for it, you’re being economical. Continue reading...

Going somewhere? Emigrate means to leave one's country to live in another. Immigrate is to come into another country to live permanently. Migrate is to move, like bird in the winter. Continue reading...

No, it’s not the name of the latest rapper from Detroit — eminent describes anyone who’s famous. But imminent refers to something about to happen, like the next big thing’s imminent rise to the top. These two words sound the same to some, but they’re unrelated. Continue reading...

Empathy is heartbreaking — you experience other people’s pain and joy. Sympathy is easier because you just have to feel sorry for someone. Send a sympathy card if someone’s cat died; feel empathy if your cat died, too. Continue reading...

Endemic and epidemic are both words that diseases love, but something endemic is found in a certain placeand is ongoing, and epidemic describes a disease that’s widespread. Continue reading...

To entitle means to give someone a rank or right, like if your perfect attendance entitles you to free ice cream at lunch. A title is the name of something, like the title of a song you wrote about ice cream. Continue reading...

Don’t bug out! Entomology is the study of insects, but etymology is the study of words. They sound similar and both end in -logy, which means “the study of,” but don’t mix them up unless you like completely confusing people. Continue reading...

To envelop is to surround something completely. But an envelope is a piece of paper you put your love note in and lick to seal. With enVElop, the accent is on the second syllable, while with ENvelope, the accent is on the first. Continue reading...

It’s no fun to feel envy or jealousy because both make you feel inadequate. Envy is when you want what someone else has, but jealousy is when you’re worried someone’s trying to take what you have. If you want your neighbor’s new convertible, you feel envy. If she takes your husband for a ride, you feel jealousy. Continue reading...

An epigram is a little poem or clever statement, but an epigraph is a specific kind of epigram: a witty statement that's inscribed somewhere, such as on a building or at the beginning of a chapter or book. Continue reading...

An epitaph is written on a tombstone. An epithet is a nickname or a description of someone. Halloween graves often combine them: “Here lies Fearsome Frank, who bet that he could rob a bank. Continue reading...

The words especially and specially, have just a hair's breadth of difference between them. Both can be used to mean "particularly." Continue reading...

To exalt, means to glorify or elevate something, but to exult is to rejoice. Exalt your favorite pro-wrestler, Jesus, or your status in the world. Exult when you get the last two tickets to see your favorite band. Continue reading...

While both words can refer to ways to get rid of something — belly fat, Satan — that's where the similarities end. Exercise is physical activity but to exorcise is to cast out evil. Continue reading...

Something expedient is helpful to you. If you vote your friend in for student body president just because you know she’ll hook you up — that’s an expedient choice. But expeditious is speedy, like your expeditious exit from the voting booth because you know didn’t do the right thing. Continue reading...

They sounds similar and both have exes, but extant means “still here,” and extent refers to “the range of something.” People get them mixed up to a certain extent. Continue reading...

To faze is to disturb, bother, or embarrass, but a phase is a stage or step. It could faze your family if your princess phase lasts well into your college years. Continue reading...

Figuratively means metaphorically, and literally describes something that actually happened. If you say that a guitar solo literally blew your head off, your head should not be attached to your body. Continue reading...

Flair is a talent for something, like what the pro-wrestler Nature Boy Ric Flair had back in the day. Flare is on a candle or the shape of bell-bottoms that kids rocked back in the heyday of wrastlin’. Continue reading...

Flaunt is to show off, but flout is to ignore the rules. Rebels do both — they flaunt their new pink motorcycles by popping a wheelie, and flout the law by running a red light. Continue reading...

To flounder is to struggle, but to founder is to sink like a stone and fail. Both are fun as nouns, not so fun as verbs. Continue reading...

Formerly is something that happened before, like when a pop star changed his name to a squiggle, he became known as The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. But formally comes from formal, or fancy, like the prom. Continue reading...

Formidable describes a foe you’re slightly afraid of, but formative describes what formed you. Perhaps a formidable gymteacher scared the pants off you during your formative years in grade school, and now you’re a world-class athlete. (Or a bookworm, depending on how you react to formidable foes.) Continue reading...

Get our your lucky rabbit’s foot! Fortunate is lucky, but fortuitous means by chance or accident. Silly rabbit, these words aren’t the same. Continue reading...

To gibe is to sneer or heckle, but to jibe is to agree. Funny thing is, though, jibe is an alternate spelling of gibe, so surprise! People get them mixed up. Continue reading...

You might see a gorilla in a zoo, but a guerrilla (sometimes spelled with one “r”), is someone who belongs to a group of independent fighters. If you remember your high school Spanish, you’ll know the difference. Continue reading...

Blood, guts, and man-eaters, oh my! Feint of heart turn back now! Grisly means relating to horror or disgust, gristly means related to gristle or cartilage, and grizzly is a big ol’ bear. That can eat you. Continue reading...

Healthful describes something that will create good health, like apples, yoga, and fresh air. Healthy describes someone fit, trim, and utterly not sick. Continue reading...

>Something historic has a great importance to human history. Something historical is related to the past. People with big egos get them mixed up if they say they had a historic family background. Unless they helped win a war, it was probably just historical. Continue reading...

To hoard is to squirrel stuff away, like gold bricks or candy wrappers. A horde is a crowd of people, usually, but it can also be a gang of mosquitoes, robots, or rabid zombie kittens. Continue reading...

This word set can be confusing, even for word geeks. Let's start with the basics. A homograph is a word that has the same spelling as another word but has a different sound and a different meaning. Continue reading...

To hone is to sharpen a knife or perfect a skill. Home is where you live, where your stuff is, is where the heart is, and all that. Continue reading...

Imply and infer are opposites, like a throw and a catch. To imply is to hint at something, but to infer is to make an educated guess. The speaker does the implying, and the listener does the inferring. Continue reading...

Incredible describes something you can’t believe because it’s so right, like an incredible double rainbow. Incredulous describes how you feel when you can’t believe something because it’s so wrong, like when someone tells you leprechauns left two pots of gold. Continue reading...

Understanding the nuances of this word pair, indeterminate and indeterminable, hinges on understanding the words' parts. The root word, determine, means to establish something. Continue reading...

If you're using indite to talk about people being formally accused of lawbreaking, you're using the wrong word: it's indict. Continue reading...

Inflammable and inflammatory can be confused with one another, but they also offer their own source of confusion with the prefix in-. Continue reading...

Ingenuous means innocent, artless, simple, while ingenious refers to something original, creative, inventive. Continue reading...

Neither insidious nor invidious are happy words: insidious describes something that lies in wait to get you, and invidious is something offensive or defamatory. Cancer can be insidious, lurking in your body without your knowing it. Invidious doesn’t hide; it’s hateful right away. Continue reading...

Around the Vocabulary.com office, we might like an instance of tea, but we vehemently oppose instant tea. Continue reading...

If your teacher offered you a choice between an intense course or an intensive one, which one would you choose? And would you wonder what his intent was? Continue reading...

Something worthy of praise is laudable. Something or someone that gives praise is laudatory. Continue reading...

Confusion between loath ("unwilling or reluctant") and loathe ("to hate") is a growing trend. Continue reading...

In yet another attempt to reduce English to features and selling points, advertisers often use luxuriant to describe their products or services. Continue reading...

Marital and martial look almost alike, but the only time they overlap is when you declare war on your spouse. Marital has to do with marriage, and martial is concerned with fighting. Continue reading...

Wordsmiths sometimes dislike numbers, or at least have a hard time grasping them. These words offer us an opportunity to better understand numbers and use their terms more precisely in writing and speaking. Continue reading...

Here we have a trio of words that sound the same (at least in American English) but mean very different things: medal, meddle, and mettle. Continue reading...

A moral is the lesson of a story. Add an "e" and you have morale: the spirit of a group that makes everyone want to pitch in and do better. Continue reading...

Morbid describes something gruesome, like smallpox or Frankenstein's monster. Moribund refers to the act of dying. Goths love both. What fun! Continue reading...

If you’re nauseated you’re about to throw up, if you’re nauseous, you’re a toxic funk and you’re going to make someone else puke. These words are used interchangeably so often that it makes word nerds feel nauseated! Continue reading...

Your navel is in the center of your belly, while naval ships belong out at sea. Continue reading...

Palette can refer to a range of colors. A platform used for moving things is a pallet. And your preference of flavors in food is your palate. Continue reading...

Parameter is a limit that affects how something can be done, and perimeter is the outline of a physical area. Both words have special meanings in math, but they take off their pocket protectors and relax their definitions when they join the rest of us. Continue reading...

Let's look at three homophones: peak, peek, and pique. Peak is a topmost point, such as a mountain peak, or to reach that point. Continue reading...

Sometimes the only way to choose your words with homophones is to memorize their spellings and meanings. Pedal/peddle/petal is one such set of homophones. Continue reading...

What is it about pursuing legal action that makes people think of harassing someone? Although we're not sure, it turns out that people have been confusing persecute and prosecute from the start. Continue reading...

Personal and personnel can be confused if the writer is not diligent, especially as both can be used as a noun and an adjective. Continue reading...

We don't often look at four words that can be easily confused for each other, but this pack is an exception. Let's start with our base word: pity. Pity is to feel sorrow or compassion for someone's misfortunes or sorrows. Continue reading...

A pore is small opening in a surface that lets stuff through. To pour, on the other hand, means to flow continuously and rapidly. Continue reading...

Choosing between practical ("sensible") and practicable ("possible") often depends on context. Continue reading...

These two words have similar sounds. They also have similar definitions, encompassing an idea of forward movement. This leads to some confusion. Continue reading...

How has the United States affected this word pair, precedent and president? Let's find out. Continue reading...

If you win an election by a 3:1 margin, are you the predominant winner or the predominate winner? Continue reading...

A premiere is the first public performance of something. If you're looking for an adjective meaning "the very best," then use premier without the "e" at the end. Continue reading...

If offered a choice, would you rather have principles or principals? Continue reading...

One letter separates prophecy from prophesy, and the close relationship is derived from a shared word history. Continue reading...

Oh, for the want of a letter! Prostate is a gland found in male mammals, but prostrate, with an r, means to lie face down. Get them mixed up and you’ll thoroughly confuse your doctor. Continue reading...

If you quote someone, do you create a quote or a quotation? To quote is to transcribe what someone said or wrote, crediting that person. Continue reading...

To rebut is to try to prove something isn’t true, but to refute is to actually prove it isn’t. Getting them mixed up won’t get you kicked out of the debate club, but it’s worth knowing the difference. Continue reading...

Regrettably is used when something’s a bummer, but it’s not necessarily your fault. Regretfully is when you’re full of regret, like if you decided to stay home and your friends saw your crush at the dance. Continue reading...

Reluctant means resisting or unwilling, while reticent means quiet, restrained, or unwilling to communicate. Is it a distinction worth preserving? Continue reading...

If you kiss the mob boss’s ring, do it respectfully, or full of respect and admiration. But respectively means “in the order given,” so if you have to kiss up to the rest of the mob, make sure to shake hands and high five Jimmy Rags and Tommy Two Face, respectively because Jimmy prefers a handshake, but Tommy loves a good high five. Continue reading...

These words are two sides of the same coin: ways to get more or to make something go further. One side is about saving; the other is about spending less. Continue reading...

The words sensual and sensuous are often used interchangeably, but careful writers would do well to think before using one or the other. Continue reading...

Simple isn't the same as simplistic. Being simplistic means trying to explain something complicated as being simpler than it is; that is, oversimplifying. Continue reading...

Make sure you’re stationary, or still, while you jot down a love letter on your fancy stationery, so the writing isn’t all squiggly. Continue reading...

Look under the pigeons and you might find a bronze statue in a park, but there’s probably a statute, or law, about how big it can be. Continue reading...

Don’t torture yourself trying to remember the difference between tortuous and torturous. Tortuous describes something like the long and winding road. But torturous is what a room full of masochists might say: “Torture us!” It describes something painful, like a poke in the eye with a sharp stick. Continue reading...

Turbid can refer to something thick with suspended matter, while turgid means swollen or bombastic. Continue reading...

These two words look and sound similar. In fact, if you think too hard about them together, you might find your tongue tripping over them. Continue reading...

Clearly, past writers have confused the meanings of unexceptional and unexceptionable to an extent that meanings are expanding. Continue reading...

Catholics everywhere are confused: do they commit venal sins or venial sins? And what is a venal/venial sin anyway? Continue reading...