Misused Words

These are pairs of words that are often misused in writing, so it is important to be able to distinguish between them.

About, Around	Accept, Except	Adapt, Adept, Adopt
Advice, Advise	Affect, Effect	All ready, Already
All right, Alright	All together, Altogether	Allowed, Aloud
Allude, Delude, Elude	Allusion, Illusion	Almost, Most
Altar, Alter	Among, Between	Amount, Number
As, Like	Audience, Spectator	Avocation, Vocation
Balance, Remainder	Beside, Besides	Brake, Break
Breadth, Breath, Breathe	Bring, Take, Fetch	Broach, Brooch
Cache, Cash	Can, May	Choose, Chose
Clothes, Cloths	Coarse, Course	Complement, Compliment
Complicit, Explicit, Implicit	Conscience, Conscious	Consul, Council, Counsel
Contemptible, Contemptuous	Continual, Continuous	Credible, Creditable, Credulous
Demur, Demure	Desert, Dessert	Device, Devise
Discover, Invent	Elicit, Illicit	Emigrate, Immigrate
Eminent, Imminent	Evacuate, Excavate	Faint, Feint
Fair, Fare	Famous, Infamous	Farther, Further
Fewer, Less	Figuratively, Literally	Flaunt, Flout
Formally, Formerly	Forth, Fourth	Good, Well
Hanged, Hung	Hear, Here	Imply, Infer
In, Into	Its, It's	Lay, Lie
Lead, Led	Learn, Teach	Let's, Lets
Lighting, Lightening, Lightning	Loath, Loathe	Loose, Lose
Of, Off	Passed, Past	Persecute, Prosecute
Personal, Personnel	Perspective, Prospective	Plain, Plane
Popular, Populous	Precede, Proceed	Principal, Principle
Quiet, Quite	Raise, Rise	Respectfully, Respectively
Set, Sit	Stationary, Stationery	Statue, Stature, Statute
Than, Then	Their, There, They're	Threw, Through
To, Too	Transparent, Translucent, Opaque	Verses, Versus
Waist, Waste	Weather, Whether	Who, Whom
Who's, Whose	Your, You're

Note: For each word we have given one or two main definitions. However, there are other definitions that are not as common. Consult a dictionary for these words.