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Homonyms are words that sound or look
similar to one another but have different meanings. It
can be easy, when writing, to choose the wrong one. Since
both are valid words, a spell checker will not pick up
the mistake; the writer himself (or herself) needs to be
able to differentiate the similar words.
These are some of the words most frequently confused:
- affect (verb)/effect (verb)
- Affect means to have an impact or
influence on something:
Itching powder, when used as an offensive
weapon, affects
your enemy's ability to fight back.
Effect means to cause something to
come to pass:
The victory was effected
by throwing itching powder over the enemy.
- bare (verb)/bear (verb)
- To bare something is to strip it of
its covering:
The winds of autumn swiftly bared
the trees, and the trees were most embarrassed.
Bear means to carry (a physical burden)
or to endure (a metaphorical one):
Sam longed for adventure, unable to bear
the dullness of her hometown.
- breath (noun)/breathe (verb)
- Often thought of as interchangeable, these are
actually different parts of speech. You breathe
in; you take a breath.
- complement (verb)/compliment (verb)
- If two things complement one another,
they fit harmoniously and give each other mutual
support:
An illustration of a forest glade complements
a fairytale much better than an illustration of a
septic tank.
If two things compliment one another,
they tell each other flattering things:
Eric complimented
the frogs on their cooking, giving particular
praise to the water-lily jellies.
- council (noun)/counsel (noun)
- A council is a body of people that
meets to discuss issues and give advice. Counsel
is advice itself.
- flair (noun)/flare (noun)
- Flair means aptitude, creativity,
verve:
The room had been decorated with artistic flair.
A flare is a burst of light:
Three flares
were released as a distress signal.
- grisly (adjective)/grizzly (adjective)
- A bear is grizzly; blood, brains,
instruments of torture and so on are grisly.
- hoard (noun)/horde (noun)
- A hoard is a stash of something
valuable:
For fifty years the dragon had slept on its
hoard of
treasure.
A horde is a large, moving group of
people or creatures:
The hordes
of the Dark Lord swept all before them.
- its/it's
- It's (with the apostrophe) is a
contraction of "it is":
It's really bad this
time!
Its (no apostrophe) is the possessive
determiner meaning "that which belongs
to it":
The black magician's cat went in fear of its
nine lives.
- loath (adjective)/loathe (verb)
- Loath (no "e") means
extremely unwilling:
Tom was loath
to give money to his shiftless nephew.
To loathe means to detest:
The boy had loathed
cabbage since his schooldays.
- loose (verb)/lose (verb)
- Loose means to unfasten, let go:
Albert loosed
his dog, but the dog ignored the burglars and
attacked a portrait of Albert's mother.
Lose means to mislay something or to
have something pass permanently away:
People lose
much valuable time by daydreaming when they
should be working.
- pore (verb)/pour (verb)
- To pore (usually followed by over)
is to study something with great concentration:
I pored
over the book until I knew it backwards, sideways
and upside-down.
To pour is to transfer liquid from a
container:
Captain Hardbrace poured
lemonade and the crew toasted the success of the
expedition.
- reign (noun/verb)/rein (noun/verb)
- Reign, as a verb, is what a king or
other all-powerful figure does. As a noun, it
refers to the period of a monarch's rule.
E.g. The reign
of Edward the Third lasted fifty years.
Rein, as a verb (usually followed by in)
means to pull back, bring under control ("rein
in one's temper"). The noun rein
(usually plural) means the strap(s) used to
control a horse.
- role (noun)/roll (noun)
- One's function in life or part in the theatre is
a role ("the role
of Hamlet"). A roll is a
gymnastic stunt or a round piece of bread.
- sight (noun)/site (noun)
- A sight is an image received via the
eyes (or the visual sense itself):
On clear evenings the stars were a
magnificent sight.
A site is a location, generally one
where something is happening or is being built:
Spectators gathered at the site
of the alien landing.
The hot new Internet site
crashed in the first five minutes.
- tail (noun)/tale (noun)
- A tail is the body part that adorns
the rears of dogs, horses, dragons etc., useful
for swatting flies or wagging.
A tale is a narrative story:
The companions told tales
of horror around the fire.
- to (preposition)/too (adverb)
- To (that's the one with just one
"o") is used to indicate direction of
movement or an object being considered or
compared. E.g. "go to", "give
to", "all Greek to me".
Too indicates an excessive quantity or
quality:
The room was too
dark because there were too
few windows.
Or has the same meaning as also:
Mary had come along, too.
Know of more? Report a
devilish homonym for listing here.
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