50 Fun Facts About Commonly Confused Words

Which spelling completes 'with ___ breath', a phrase Shakespeare used in The Merchant of Venice for anxious waiting?

Bated is a clipped form of 'abated', so the phrase pictures breathing that is held back or reduced. The word now survives only in this one expression.

A liquid labelled 'inflammable', a word built on the Latin verb 'inflammare', is best described as which of these?

Easily set on fire is the meaning: the 'in-' comes from Latin 'inflammare', to set alight, and is not a negative. Safety bodies pushed the plainer 'flammable' because people misread the older word as fireproof.

Which word completes 'for all ___ and purposes', a phrase that echoes an English law adopted under Henry VIII?

Intents is the word: the phrase comes from 'to all intents, constructions, and purposes' in a Tudor act of Parliament. Saying 'intensive purposes' instead is a well-known eggcorn, a slip that almost makes sense.

Which spelling is the cheer of agreement shouted in the British House of Commons, where applause is normally forbidden?

Hear, hear is short for 'hear him, hear him!', a late-1600s call for MPs to pay attention to a speaker. It had shrunk to its modern form by the late 18th century.

Which word do traditional grammar guides require before countable plurals, as in 'ten items or ___' at a checkout?

Fewer is what prescriptive guides demand for things you can count, a preference the grammarian Robert Baker first voiced in 1770. Tesco sidestepped the row in 2008 with signs reading 'up to 10 items'.

Which cave formation hangs from the ceiling, its name taken from the Greek word for 'dripping'?

Stalactite is the one that clings to the roof, while the stalagmite rises from the floor beneath it. If the two grow long enough to meet, they join into a single column.

Which spelling completes the idiom 'give someone free ___', meaning to let them act without limits?

Rein is correct: a rider who slackens the straps lets the horse move more freely. 'Free reign', which pictures a monarch instead, is a common misspelling.

Which word completes '___ the line', an idiom for conforming first printed in The Army Regulator in 1738?

Toe is right: in that 1738 text an officer forming ranks barks 'Silence you dogs, toe the line', meaning put your feet on the mark. The misspelling 'tow' wrongly suggests hauling a rope.

Someone who escapes punishment gets off '___-free', a phrase built on which Old English word for a royal tax?

Scot was a late Old English royal tax, so 'scot-free' first meant exempt from paying it. The word traces back to Old Norse 'skot', a contribution.

The word 'dessert', with its double 's', comes from the French verb 'desservir', which means to do what?

Clear the table is the sense, since the sweet course arrived once the main dishes were taken away. The sandy 'desert' with one 's' comes instead from Latin 'desertum', a thing abandoned.

Which form completes the sentence '___ leaving for the airport at noon'?

They're is a shortened form of 'they are', so it fits wherever those two words would. 'Their' shows possession and 'there' points to a place, yet all three sound the same.

Which form begins the title of the First World War marching song '___ a Long Way to Tipperary'?

It's is the contracted form of 'it is' or 'it has', which is what the song title needs. The possessive 'its' takes no apostrophe, just like 'my', 'your' and 'his'.

Which word completes 'Try not to ___ your passport', a verb that rhymes with 'choose'?

Lose is the verb, and it shares an ancient Germanic root with 'loose', 'loss' and the ending '-less'. 'Loose' with two o's usually describes something not firmly held or fastened.

Which word completes 'Please ___ this gift', a verb built on the Latin 'capere', meaning 'to take'?

Accept joins Latin 'ad', to, with 'capere', to take, so it means to receive willingly. 'Except' swaps in 'ex', out, which is why it leaves things out.

Which word completes 'Mount Everest is taller ___ K2', a spelling English only separated from its twin around 1700?

Than grew out of the adverb 'then', and the two were not told apart in spelling until about 1700. Today the 'a' form handles comparisons and the 'e' form handles time.

Which word completes 'The drought will ___ wheat prices', the verb in a pair where the noun partner means a result?

Affect is the verb, meaning to influence something or cause it to change. Its partner 'effect' is the noun for the result of that influence, as in 'a bad effect on me'.

Which spelling names the flash seen before thunder, a word with an Old English ancestor that also meant daybreak?

Lightning, with no 'e', is the electrical flash, and in Middle English the word could also mean intense brightness. 'Lightening' with an 'e' is the act of making something less heavy or less dark.

Which word completes 'The library was completely ___', the two-syllable adjective of a lookalike pair?

Quiet is the two-syllable adjective meaning making very little noise. Its lookalike 'quite' is an adverb, as in 'quite busy', and the pair differ in both spelling and sound.

Which spelling completes 'The cyclist ___ three cars on the climb', where the missing word is the act of overtaking?

Passed is the simple past tense of the verb 'pass', so it is the form for any action of going by. Its homophone 'past' serves as a noun, adjective, adverb or preposition instead.

Which word opens the title of the improv comedy show '___ Line Is It Anyway?' and asks about possession?

Whose asks who something belongs to, which is why it fronts questions about possession. 'Who's' is a short form of 'who is' or 'who has'.

Which form completes 'Yesterday I ___ on the sofa for an hour', as the past simple of 'lie', to recline?

Lay is the past simple of 'lie', which is exactly why this pair causes so much trouble. The separate verb meaning to put something down takes the form 'laid', while 'lain' is very formal and rarely used.

Which verb, from the Latin for 'to fill up', means to go well with something, as a wine does a dish?

Complement shares its root with 'complete', so it is the word for whatever fills out or finishes something. A 'compliment' with an 'i' is a remark of praise.

Which of these is a 'principle', a word from the Latin for 'a beginning', as opposed to a 'principal'?

A basic moral rule is a principle, as is a theory that explains how something works. Head teachers and sums of money lent or invested take the '-pal' spelling, which also serves as an adjective meaning most important.

Which of these is 'stationery' with an 'e', a word that began with booksellers trading from fixed shops?

A box of envelopes is stationery, the paper goods once sold by a 'stationer'. Unlike roving peddlers, medieval stationers sold from a fixed shop, often a bookshop licensed by a university.

In American usage, which of these is a 'capitol' with an 'o', a spelling borrowed from a temple hill in ancient Rome?

A legislature's building is the only meaning of 'capitol', named after the Capitolium, the temple of Jupiter on Rome's Capitoline Hill. Cities, uppercase letters and money all take the 'a' spelling.

Which adjective, from a Latin verb meaning 'to overhang', describes a storm that is about to strike?

Imminent comes from Latin 'imminere', to overhang or lean towards, so it suits anything looming close. 'Eminent' means famous and respected, while the rarer 'immanent' means present as a natural part of something.

Which word names an indirect reference, such as a novel's nod to the Bible, and comes from the Latin for 'to play'?

Allusion comes from Latin 'alludere', to play or jest, and in the 1550s it could mean a joke or piece of word-play. 'Illusion', 'delusion' and 'collusion' share the same playful root, 'ludere'.

Which word means advice, especially a lawyer's, and descends from the Latin 'consilium', a plan or opinion?

Counsel means advice and, in court, the lawyers who give it, from Latin 'consilium'. A 'council' is a body that meets, from the separate Latin word 'concilium', a gathering of people.

Which spelling names the thin board on which a painter mixes colours, a word that began as French for a small shovel?

Palette comes from Old French 'palete', a small shovel or blade, itself from the Latin for a spade. The 'palate' is the top of the inside of the mouth, and a 'pallet' is a wooden platform for moving heavy goods.

Which spelling completes 'The marathon will test your ___', a word for spirit that split from a soundalike in the 1700s?

Mettle began in the 1580s simply as a variant spelling of 'metal'. The spellings diverged in the early 18th century, and this one kept the figurative sense of a person's inner stuff.

The trend-setting 'bell___' is named after a belled sheep that led a flock; which spelling completes the word?

Wether is an old word for a male sheep, especially a castrated ram. A bellwether was the lead sheep with a bell hung on its neck, which is how the term came to mean anything that shows where the rest will follow.

Which spelling completes 'The trailer ___ viewers' curiosity', using a verb from the French for 'to prick'?

Piqued curiosity has been given a sharp little jab, because the verb comes from French 'piquer', to prick or sting. A 'peak' is a summit and a 'peek' is a quick look.

Which verb completes 'Storms ___ havoc across the coast', a descendant of the Old English word for 'avenge'?

Wreak comes from Old English 'wrecan', to avenge or punish, and Shakespeare still used it that way. The set phrase 'wreak havoc' is on record by 1837.

Which spelling completes '___ of hand', a conjuror's skill named with an Old Norse word for cunning?

Sleight comes from an Old Norse word for cleverness or cunning and is a relative of 'sly'. The phrase 'sleight of hand' has described jugglers' tricks since about 1400.

Which word completes 'a ___ point', taken from the Old English name for a formal meeting of freemen?

Moot comes from Old English 'gemot', a formal assembly where community affairs were discussed. Law students later argued hypothetical cases at 'moots', which is how the word came to mean debatable.

Which word completes '___ your appetite', an Old English verb that means to sharpen a blade on stone?

Whet comes from Old English 'hwettan', to sharpen an edge by rubbing it on stone, so a whetted appetite has been given a keener edge. From early on it also meant to incite or encourage.

Which verb completes 'Lawyers ___ over every clause', a word of unknown origin first recorded in the 1200s?

Pore, meaning to gaze intently or study closely, has been in English since the early 13th century, yet its origin is unknown. The skin's pores are a separate word, from the Greek for a passage.

Which adjective suits a gruesome crime scene and descends from an Old English word for 'horrible'?

Grisly comes from Old English 'grislic', horrible or dreadful, from a root meaning to shudder. 'Grizzly' simply means somewhat grey, and 'gristly' meat is full of tough gristle.

Which adjective, honouring the Roman god of war, completes '___ law', the term for government by the military?

Martial comes from Latin 'martialis', of Mars, the god who also gave his name to the month of March. A 'marshal' is an officer, and 'marital' concerns marriage.

Which verb completes 'Riders who ___ the helmet law face a fine', a word that may come from playing the flute?

Flout means to treat with contempt, and it is perhaps a special use of a Middle English verb for playing the flute. The matching Dutch verb also meant to jeer, while to 'flaunt' is to show something off.

In careful usage, a listener who draws a conclusion from a speaker's hints does which of these?

Infers is the listener's verb, since a speaker can imply but a listener can only infer. 'Insinuates' and 'intimates' also belong on the speaker's side, as ways of suggesting something without saying it directly.

Which word means strong formal criticism, of the kind a parliament may pass on one of its own members?

Censure is strong official criticism or disapproval. A 'censor' suppresses material, a title first held by Roman magistrates who took censuses, and a 'censer' is a container for burning incense.

Which word names a judge's written disagreement with a court's majority, from the Latin for 'to feel differently'?

Dissent comes from Latin 'dissentire', to feel or think differently. A 'descent' is a way down or a line of ancestry, and 'decent' means respectable.

Someone in painful suspense is 'on ___hooks', after hooks that held cloth on a stretching frame; which spelling fits?

Tenter is a wooden framework for stretching cloth, which was held in place by tenterhooks. Being 'on tenterhooks' has meant being in painful suspense since 1748.

Which verb means to forbid or outlaw, from the Roman practice of publishing lists of condemned citizens?

Proscribe comes from Latin 'proscribere', to publish in writing, which in Rome included naming people as outlaws with their property forfeit. A doctor will 'prescribe' a remedy, which recommends it.

Which adjective describes a mountain road full of twists and hairpin bends, from the Latin for 'a twisting'?

Tortuous means full of twists and turns, from Latin 'tortus', a twisting. 'Torturous' means agonising, yet both go back to the same Latin verb 'torquere', to twist.

The mathematician's word 'discrete', ending in -ete, describes things that are what, unlike its twin 'discreet'?

Distinct and unconnected is the sense of 'discrete', which is why mathematics sets it against 'continuous'. Both spellings descend from Latin 'discretus', separated, while 'discreet' came to mean careful not to attract attention.

In the sense settled by the late 1700s, a 'disinterested' judge, unlike an 'uninterested' one, is best called what?

Impartial is the meaning: a disinterested judge is free from self-interest or personal bias, while an uninterested one does not care. In the 1600s each word first carried the other's sense.

Which word completes 'run the ___', meaning to cover a whole range, and began as the lowest note of a medieval scale?

Gamut is a contraction of 'gamma ut', the low G at the bottom of the medieval musical scale, and grew to mean the whole range of notes. To 'run the gauntlet' is to face a barrage of criticism or attack.

Which spelling names a vast swarming crowd, a word that came from a Turkic term for a camp or army?

Horde first meant a tribe of Asian nomads living in tents and comes from a Turkic word for a camp or army, which also gave Urdu its name. A 'hoard' is a secret store of something.