Commonly confused words
Word pairs that trip up careful writers, each with the rule that tells them apart, two example sentences and the dictionary convention behind it.
64 entries · Check your own text: Spell Checker
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- Merriam-Webster · Oxford English Dictionary / Oxford spelling · SCOWL
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Commonly confused words are pairs or groups that sound or look alike but differ in meaning or grammar, such as affect and effect, its and it’s, or principal and principle. Each entry here explains the difference in plain words, shows it in two example sentences and names the convention it follows: Merriam-Webster for American English, Oxford for British English. Spelling variants such as colour and color are marked as correct in their own variety, not as errors.
Frequently asked questions
Which dictionaries do these entries follow?
American conventions follow Merriam-Webster and British conventions follow Oxford. Where the two differ, as with colour and color or organise and organize, the entry says which spelling belongs to which variety instead of calling one of them wrong. Choose one variety per document and keep it consistent.
Are British spellings wrong in American English?
No, they belong to the other variety. Centre, travelling and judgement are standard British spellings, just as center, traveling and judgment are standard American ones. What editors flag is mixing both varieties in the same text, so pick one and apply it everywhere.
How can I check my own text for these mistakes?
Confused words are spelled correctly, so a spell checker cannot catch them: paste your text into the Grammar Checker, which reads each sentence in context and explains every change. For plain misspellings such as definately or seperate, use the Spell Checker, which runs in your browser.
How are entries checked, and can I suggest one?
Every entry is checked against the Merriam-Webster or Oxford convention it cites before it is published; an entry that has not passed that check is kept out of search results. To suggest a pair or report a mistake, write to us through the contact page.