Confused Words

Adjectives often confused

1. able, capable
These two words have almost the same meaning. Able is followed by an infinitive
while capable by of + gerund.
He is able to do it.
He is capable of doing it.

2. ashamed, shameful
Ashamed refers to someone who feels shame.
I felt ashamed of the things Id said to him.
Shameful refers to something which causes shame.
To make fun of the disabled is a shameful act.

3. considerable, considerate
Considerable means moderately great.
The thieves stole a considerable amount of jewellery.
Considerate means thoughtful of others.
She is always polite and considerate towards her employees.

4. delighted, delightful
Delighted means extremely pleased.
I am delighted to hear that you are feeling better.
Delightful means giving great pleasure.
Thank you for such a delightful evening. Jill and I greatly enjoyed ourselves.

5. disinterested, uninterested
Disinterested means not influenced by personal feelings or interests.
A good judge should be a disinterested person.
Uninterested means not interested.
He is uninterested in his studies.

6. exhausted, exhausting, exhaustive

Exhausted means very tired.
By the time they reached the castle, they were exhausted.
Exhausting means causing tiredness.
Pushing the car uphill was exhausting.
Exhaustive means thorough or complete.
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 An exhaustive investigation finally revealed the cause of the accident.

7. favourable, favourite
Favourable means suitable, advantageous or showing approval.
We shall go for a picnic if the weather is favourable.
Favourite means preferred or liked above all others.
What is your favourite TV programme?

8. few, a few
Few gives the idea of hardly any.
There were few people in the market, so the hawkers took a rest.
A few means some, which is more than few.
I saw her a few days ago.

9. imaginary, imaginative
Imaginary means existing only in the mind.
The Equator is an imaginary line drawn across the earth to divide it into two
hemispheres.
Imaginative means full of imagination.
Shakespeare was an imaginative writer.

10. intense, intensive

Intense means strong or very great.
The President is under intense pressure to resign.
Intensive means concentrated.
After 6 months intensive training, she was ready to fly the helicopter.
The man has been in intensive care since the accident last Sunday.

11. last, latest

Last means final and is the opposite of first.
December is the last month of a year.
Last may also mean immediately before and is the opposite of next.
I saw him last month.
Latest means most recent.
Have you heard the latest news?

12. little, a little

Little means not much and stresses the smallness of the amount.
I cannot afford it as I have little money left.
A little means some and is more positive in meaning than little.
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 He slept a little and felt better.

13. negligent, negligible

Negligent means not taking or showing enough care.
He was dismissed because he was negligent in his duties.
Negligible means can be neglected (because of little or no importance).
The additional charge was negligible.

14. satisfied, satisfying, satisfactory

Satisfied means feeling pleased or content.
I was completely satisfied with the quality of her work.
Satisfying means giving pleasure or contentment.
It is a satisfying job.
Satisfactory means good enough to be acceptable.
His examination results were not satisfactory.

15. worth, worthy

Worth is used like a preposition, followed by a noun, pronoun or number, or by the ing
form of a verb.
The museum is certainly worth a visit.
This ring is worth $1 million.
The book is worth reading.
Worthy is usually followed by of.
The idea is worthy of consideration.

Adverbs often confused

16. altogether, all together

Altogether means completely.
The meeting was altogether a failure.
All together means with everybody.
They were all together in the sitting room.

17. hard, hardly

The adverb from the adjective hard is hard. It means with great effort or heavily.
I have to work hard this year.
It was raining hard outside.
Hardly is an adverb meaning almost not.
It was so dark that we could hardly see.
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18. lastly, at last
Lastly is used to introduce the last in a list of things or the final point you are making.
Lastly, add the lemon juice.
Lastly, I would like to thank my parents for all their support.
At last is used when something happens after a long time, especially when there has
been some difficulty or delay.
At last, after 20 hours on the boat, they arrived at the destination.
Im pleased to hear that you are out of hospital at last.

19. late, lately

The opposite of early is late, not lately.
He arrived home late last night.
Lately means recently.
Have you been to the cinema lately?

Nouns often confused

20. amount, number

Amount is used for uncountable nouns while number for countable ones.
That rich lady has a large amount of money.
Dr. Wong has a large number of books.

21. climate, weather

Climate means the weather condition of a region throughout the year.
Hong Kong has a sub-tropical climate.
Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere for a short time.
What will the weather be like tomorrow?

22. complement, compliment

A complement is something added to make a thing complete.
A good wine is a complement to a delicious meal.
A compliment is an expression of praise.
The author received many compliments on his new book.

23. fare, fee, toll

Money spent on transportation is called fare.
Bus fares are going up again.
A fee (usually fees) is a charge paid for professional services.
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 My parents couldnt afford the school fees.
A toll means money paid to use a particular road or bridge.
He has just got a job collecting tolls at the Tsing Ma Bridge.

24. floor, ground

Floor is indoor whereas ground is outdoor.
When she entered the room, she saw his son lying on the floor.
A dog was knocked down by a car and laid on the ground.

25. instance, instant

Instance means example or fact.
Spitting in public places is an instance of bad behaviour.
Instant means moment.
Ill be back in an instant.

26. moral, morals, morale

Moral, as a noun, means lesson learnt from a story or an experience.
The moral of the story is that crime doesnt pay.
Morals refers to standards or principles of good behaviour.
The novel reflects the morals of the time.
Morale refers to state of mind or attitude towards difficulties.
The meeting raised everyones morale, and the staff finished the job on schedule.

27. noise, sound

Noise is usually loud and unpleasant. It can be countable or uncountable.
Try not to make so much noise.
What a terrible noise!
Sound is a countable noun and means something that you hear.
All she could hear was the sound of the waves.

28. outlook, look

Outlook is the way a person looks at life and the world --- or in general, what is likely
to happen in the future.
Her outlook on life is optimistic.
The outlook for the weekend is dry and sunny.
Look is the appearance of somebody or something.
I dont like the look of that guy.

29. produce, product

Produce refers to agricultural yields, crops, etc. It is an uncountable noun and has no
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 plural form.
Local farmers come to the market every day to sell their organic produce.
Product refers to things produced by industry. It is a countable noun.
The products of that firm include computers, televisions and mobile phones.

30. scene, scenery

A scene refers to what you see when you are in a particular place or a place where
something happens.
Some of the scenes inside the concentration camp were too horrific to describe.
The police hurried to the scene of the crime.
Scenery refers to the natural features of the countryside and is an uncountable noun.
Switzerland has some spectacular scenery.

Verbs often confused

31. arouse, rouse

Arouse means cause someone to have a particular feeling.
Their comments about the movie aroused my interest.
To rouse someone is to wake them up or make them more active.
The mini-bus driver roused the sleeping man.

32. assure, ensure

Assure means tell someone with confidence and is followed by a personal noun.
They assured him of their willingness to work hard.
I assured her that I could get a pass in the coming examination.
Ensure means make sure.
All the necessary steps have been taken to ensure their safety.
If you want to ensure that you catch the plane, take a taxi now.

33. avoid, prevent

Avoid (doing) something means be careful not to do something.
The best way to lose weight is to avoid eating fatty foods.
Prevent somebody/something (from doing something) means stop someone or
something from doing something; stop something from happening.
These new measures are intended to prevent the disease from spreading.
These new measures are intended to prevent the spread of the disease.

34. found, founded

The verb found may either be the past tense and past participle of the verb find or be a
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 present tense itself. If it is to mean get back a lost person or thing, its present tense is
find, past tense and past participle found.
I found my passport yesterday.
If it is to mean establish, its present tense is found, past tense and past participle
founded.
Our school was founded in 1966.

35. hanged, hung

If hang refers to the way of killing a man, the past tense and past participle are
hanged.
In the 19th century, people were hanged for minor crimes.
If hang has the meaning of suspending from above, the past tense and past participle
are hung.
It always rains when Ive hung the washing on the line.

36. hurt, harm

Hurt means cause / produce physical pain.
I banged my arm against the door and hurt myself.
Harm means do damage to.
Does watching violence on TV harm children?
Harmful is an adjective.
The chemical is harmful to people with asthma.

37. lay, lie

Lay (laying, laid, laid) is a transitive verb and needs an object. It means produce or
put down.
The turtle is laying its eggs in the sand.
She laid the money on the table in front of me.
When we are talking about the position of someone or something, we use lie (lying, lay,
lain) + adverbial.
We were so tired that we lay in bed all morning.

Confusion of parts of speech

38. affect (v.), effect (n.)

To affect something is to have an effect on it.
Smoking affects your health.
= Smoking has an effect on your health.

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39. afraid (adj.), fear (v.)
Afraid is an adjective and is often followed by of.
I am afraid of cockroaches.
Fear is both a verb and a noun. As a verb, it takes no preposition.
I fear cockroaches.

40. hardworking (adj.), hard work (n.)

Hardworking is an adjective.
She is a hardworking student.
Hard work is composed of an adjective + a noun.
The success was due to their hard work.

41. indoor (adj.), indoors (adv.)

Indoor is an adjective whereas indoors an adverb.
Bowling is an indoor game.
Id rather stay indoors.

42. maybe (adv.), may be (v.)

Maybe is an adverb meaning perhaps or possibly.
Maybe you are right.
May be is a verb form.
You may be right.

43. next door (adv.), next-door (adj.)

Next door is an adverbial phrase whereas next-door an adjective.
They live next door.
They are my next-door neighbours.

44. passed (v.), past (adj.) (adv.) (prep.) (n.)

Passed is the past tense and past participle of the verb pass.
He has passed his driving test.
Past is not used as a verb. It is
a. an adjective
They have had terrible experiences in the past few weeks.
b. an adverb
The bus went past.
c. a preposition
She walked past me very quickly.
d. a noun
He never speaks about his past.
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Miscellaneous examples

45. adapt (v.), adopt (v.), adept (adj.)

Adapt means change and make suitable for.
I cannot adapt myself to the weather in Beijing.
Adopt means start using a particular idea, plan or method.
They adopted different approaches to the problem.
Adept means skilful at doing something.
He is very adept at dealing with the media.

46. another, the other

Another means an additional one to the already-existed person or thing.
I dont like this shirt. Please show me another.
The other is used to refer to the second one of the two persons or things.
Of the two jackets, one is mine and the other is yours.

47. beside, besides

The preposition beside means next to or at the side of.
He sat beside her all night.
When besides is used as a preposition, it means in addition to.
What other sports do you play besides basketball?

48. betweenand, fromto

One cannot say betweento It must be either betweenand or fromto
Tomorrows temperature will vary between 28 and 32.
Temperatures will range from 28 to 32.

49. each, every

a. Each is used for two or more persons or things.
The pavement on each side is crowded with pedestrians.
Every is never used for two, but always for more than two persons or things.
I enjoy every minute of the party.
b. When we use each, our attention is focused on the individual.
Each person has a special seat allocated to him.
When we use every, our attention is directed to the whole.
Every child knows it. (= All children know it.)
c. Every cannot replace each in such phrases as they each or each of them.
They each have their own problems. (every is not possible)
Several men entered. Each of them was carrying a knife. (every is not possible)
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50. economic (adj.), economical (adj.), economics (n.), economy (n.)
Economic means concerning the economy.
The USA has serious economic problems.
Economical means not wasting money.
There is increasing demand for cars which are more economical on fuel.
Economics is the study of how a society organizes its money, trade and industry.
He studied economics at Oxford.
Economy means (a) the financial and business system that exists in a society: Chinas
economy has expanded rapidly in recent years.
(b) (used as a modifier) money-saving: Buy the giant economy size and save money!

51. literal (adj.), literate (adj.), literacy (n.), literary (adj.)

Literal means word for word, following the exact meaning.
The literal interpretation of a poem is often too narrow.
Literacy is the noun of literate, which means able to read and write.
Over one-quarter of the adult population are not fully literate in India.
Literacy is necessary for most jobs.
Literary is an adjective meaning of literature.
These rhymes have no literary merit.

52. none, not one

No one cannot be followed by of. Either none of or not one of is used instead.
None of his movies is a commercial success.
Not one of his movies is a commercial success.
(x No one of his movies )

53. painful, in pain

Painful means causing / giving pain. The part of the body giving the pain can be
described as painful: an arm / leg / head / tooth, etc. can be painful. And a cut, a
wound or a fall can be painful.
My arm is very painful.
However, a person cant be painful unless he or she is giving pain to others. Instead, a
person can be in pain.
The old man is in a lot of pain.

54. personal (adj.), personnel (n.)

Personal means concerning or belonging to one person.
Its a personal matter which I dont want to discuss.
Personnel refers to all the people who work for an organization.
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 All of that companys personnel are pleasant to deal with.

55. some time, sometime (adv.), sometimes (adv.)

Some time means a long time.
It will take some time to tell you the whole story.
Sometime means at an unspecified time.
The shop will open sometime next year.
Sometimes means now and then; at times.
The bus is sometimes full and I have to walk.

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