Recently, on Instagram, I hosted a discussion on my stories about confusables. Confusables are words or phrases that are easily confused in meaning or application with other words. In short, we mix these words up and the meaning of our writing can be drastically altered as a result.
When I’m editing a book, I like to keep a list of confusables close by so I can check the usage is correct. When I mentioned this on Instagram, and asked if you’d be interested in me sharing my list, there was a resounding ‘yes’.
Below is a list of commonly confused words — you might like to bookmark this page, or share it with a writing buddy so you can refer back to this list, next time you find yourself looking for ways to polish your writing.
accept/except
affect/effect
ascent/assent
aid/aide
aural/oral
bait/bate
balmy/barmy
bare/bear
bazaar/bizarre
berth/birth
born/borne
bough/bow
brake/break
breech/breach
breath/breathe
broach/brooch
bye/buy/by
canvas/canvass
cereal/serial
censor/censure
climactic/climatic
coarse/course
complement/compliment
conscience/conscious
council/counsel
cue/queue
curb/kerb
currant/current
decent/descent
defuse/diffuse
desert/dessert
discreet/discrete
draft/draught
dual/duel
elicit/illicit
envelop/envelope
faun/fawn
flair/flare
flounder/founder
forbear/forebear
foreword/forward
freeze/frieze
gaff/gaffe
grisly/grizzly
hoard/horde
lay/lie
leach/leech
lightening/lightning
loath/loathe
loose/lose
meter/metre
palate/palette
past/passed
peak/peal/ peel
pedal/peddle
peek/pique/peak
peninsula/peninsular
phase/faze
pore/pour
practice/practise
prescribe/ proscribe
principal/principle
purposefully/purposely
rapt/wrapped/rapped
reign/rein
sheer/shear
sight/site
sooth/soothe
stationary/stationery
specific/pacific
there/their/they’re
timber/timbre
vain/vein
vial/vile
waive/wave
wear/ware/where
wreath/wreathe
yoke/yolk
What words do you commonly mix up?
If there are any words you think have been missed from this list, let me know in the comments and I’ll update this post so it can continue to be a comprehensive resource. Happy writing!
Steph Huddleston 
Thanks Steph, that’s an extensive list! Very helpful.
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