In the glossary, youll also find links to definitions, examples, and practice exercises that should help you keep these words straight. Battle of the commonly misspelled or misused words free. Here, youll find an easily confused words worksheet for early learners and one for more advanced learners. A linguist has compiled a list of the most commonly misused words and phrases in the english language how many do you get wrong in his. Use this list as a reference whenever youre unsure about which word fits in the context. Free, printable easily confused worksheets to develop strong grammar, language and. These words are sometimes used interchangeably, but theyre technically opposites. The 58 most commonly misused words and phrases the. For each of the following sentences, circle the word or words that best complete the sentence correctly. Its easy to get them confused and most electronic spellcheckers wont be much help in this type of situation. This is true most of the time, but there are some cases in which besides has a slightly different nuance than in addition to in sentences like a and b below, the meanings of in addition to and besides are similar, although wed be more likely to use a in informal. Purland training is a free resource website for teachers and students of english, esol, efl, and esl.
Data like strata, phenomena, and media, data is a plural and is best used with a plural verb. If a cat falls of off the counter, it will land on its feet. See more ideas about commonly confused words, words and confusing words. These printable grammar worksheets will help students learn the differences between.
Our commonly confused words worksheets are free to download and easy to access in pdf format. Some words sound so similar, its easy to confuse or misuse them when writing. The following sentence uses the commonly misused words correctly. Illusion an allusion refers to implying or referring to something, especially in literature. Commonly misused word pairs i quiz by bajczthedamned. In the test that follows, two words have different preferred spellings in american and british english.
Test your understanding of some commonly confused words with this grammar exercise. The most commonly misused and misspelled words that make us do a double take during proofing and run through our rules to make sure weve selected the right word. The word, however, is slowly gaining acceptance as a singular. I invited everyone except, accept tom to the picnic. However, it cannot distinguish context and may not catch some errors, especially when the word you type has a. Click for more on courses in 45 areas of business writing. Commonly confused words in todays hightechnology environment, it is easy to become lazy and let the spellcheck function in the word processor do its job. Many words look or sound similar use the right word so the reader knows your meaning incorrect words can be distracting.
Practise vs practice this is definitely a word i have to consider before i write it and the difference between these two versions is the difference between the verb practise and. Subscribe for a free trial read now please wait uk edition. It would be more humane, human to treat animals kindly. It is meant to include only words whose misuse is deprecated by most usage writers, editors, and professional grammarians defining the norms of standard english. What these words have in common is they could show up on the gre.
Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Sayed mohamed besides the ldoce defines besides as meaning in addition to. Word usage worksheets commonly confused words worksheets. Answering these quiz and worksheet questions on commonly misused words requires you to be familiar with words like proceed and effect. Commonly confused words grammar video by brightstorm.
Unfortunately, many of us end up using such words incorrectlywhich can become a big problem when prepping for the gre. Confused words worksheet writing commonly confused words worksheet. This is a list of english words that are thought to be commonly misused. Start studying 100 commonly misused english word groups.
There are a lot of words in english that look or sound alike but have very different meanings, such as pore and pour or flaunt and flout. Practice differentiating between the two words with this fillintheblanks worksheet. Commonly confused words worksheet education yourdictionary. There are many words in the english language that are commonly confused. The english language can be fairly difficult and nuanced sometimes. Unfortunately, even computer spellcheckers are not smart enough to detect many misused words. Did you know that every time you misspeak, a kitten cries. The following sentence does not use the commonly misused word correctly. The 25 most commonly misspelled words in business writing. Can you correctly use these commonly misused words.
Below are some of the most commonly confused and misused words in english. Writing commonly confused words worksheet commonly confused words. An illusion refers to a misleading image, object, or idea that does not exist as it appears. Test your vocabulary skills with our commonly confused words quiz there are many words in the english language that are easy to mix up.
Heres a quickreference list of pairs of words that regularly cause people problems. In our glossary of usage, you will find more than 300 sets of confusableswords that are commonly mixed up because they look and sound alike. Every language has them, and english definitely has a fair not fare share. Practice differentiating between lay and lie, fewer and less, loose and lose, saw and seen, as well as set and sit.
It is possible that some of the meanings marked nonstandard may pass into standard english in the future, but at this time all of the following nonstandard. Can you identify when to correctly use these words that often get confused with other words. Learn commonly misused phrases with free interactive flashcards. Test your knowledge of these commonly confused words. Perhaps this phenomenon can account for the spread of solecisms, or the misuse of words. Commonly misused words you should get right readers digest.
There are a lot of words in english that look or sound alike but have different meanings, such as affect and effect or cite and site. It was unfortunate that i forgot my textbook the night before the quiz. The worksheets below will help students learn the differences between commonly confused words. How many of the most commonly misused words do you. Its also full of words that have similar but not identical meanings that are easy to misuse. The fact that english spelling is not phonetic makes things even trickier. Check your result after completing all of the questions. In grammar, there are sets of words that are commonly confused with one another. Can you name the correct word from the pair of commonly confused words that grammatically completes the sentences.
Certain words are easy to mix up, but these two commonly confused worksheets can help. The horse mentioned in the text is clearly an allusion to the trojan horse. The english language has always been a complex one. Examples of these sets of words include literal versus figurative, allusion versus illusion, fewer versus less than, imminent versus eminent, inferred versus implied, and elicit versus implicit. Cern desktop publishing service grammar and style guidelines misused terms contrast you compare two or more items in terms of similarity. Commonly misused words verb english language free 30. She was confident that he would exceed, accede to her request. The magician created the illusion of a disappearing coin. This worksheet features those commonly misused words, its and its. English is full of words that sound alike but are spelled differently. The english language has many confusableswords that are commonly mixed up because they look and sound alike. We offer a free online elementary english course with free material, free printable worksheets, podcasts, video lessons, educational infographics, games, and the opportunity to book classes and courses via skype or facetime with an experienced professional native speaker. Choose from 500 different sets of commonly misused phrases flashcards on quizlet.
Theres an explanation about commonly confused words before each printable worksheet, and the answers are provided in the pdf file. See how well your grammar stacks up with this quiz. These words sound alike or look similar, but they have different meanings. The test presents these words asking for american spelling first, then repeats the words asking for british. A short quiz that tests students on these commonly misused words. Sometimes your sister isnt very nice to me, but your being here makes her act nicer to me. The case always seems to be that unless youre picking it up as a second language, you simply overlook all of the contradictions and overly difficult aspects of it an example of which is multiple varying words with either the same spelling or. Some words sound similar and other looks similar, so it is important to learn them. Commonly misused words comprehension worksheet in this printable, students read the definitions of two commonlymisused words, accept and except, then answer questions about the words and fill in the blanks in sentences. Heres a quiz for all the crazy logophiles out there. There is used when you are referring to a place examples.