English

Easily Confused Words

No.	Words	Meanings	Examples
1)	Accept (v.)	to receive willingly, to be happy to receive 接受	We are happy to accept your invitation.
1)	Except (prep.)	“with the exception of” or “but” 除了	The shop is open every day except Sunday.
2)	Adoptive (adj.)	parents are “adoptive” 收養的	Mary and Sue are the adoptive parents of Michael.
2)	Adopted (v.)	children are “adopted” 被收養的	Michael was adopted by Mary and Sue.
3)	Adverse	bad or unfavorable 逆向的/反向的	The ship sailed despite the adverse weather conditions.
3)	Averse	to strongly dislike or be opposed to something 反對的/不願意	I am averse to all forms of violence.
4)	Advice (n.)	guidance 忠告	The accountant provides tax advice which can help lower your tax commitments.
4)	Advise (v.)	to recommend or to offer guidance	I was advised not to buy that car as it has fuel consumption problems.
5)	Affect (v.)	to cause a change or variation 影響	Although she is a bit wild it doesn’t affect her ability to study.
5)	Effect (n.)	an outcome or result	The effect of stopping smoking is that I am healthier and happier.
6)	All ready	totally prepared	I have packed my suitcases and am all ready to go.
6)	Already	before or previously	I have already visited Japan.
7)	All together	all of the objects, or people are in a single group	We put the English speakers all together in the class.
7)	Altogether	completely, usually “on the whole”	I am not altogether sure that I understand. They seem to be learning a different meaning altogether.
8)	Allot	A given period of time or quantity of something 分配	We were allotted one hour to visit the Louvre during our tour of Paris.
8)	A lot	A large quantity of something 很多	There are a lot of paintings in the Louvre.
9)	Altar	an area, usually in the form of a table, where religious worship and sacrifices take place. 祭壇	The ancient Aztecs used to offer human sacrifices on their altars.
9)	Alter	to change 改變	They altered the roads in the city center to make them pedestrian only.
10)	Among	preposition used with three or more persons or things	Among thirty candidates for the job, there were only three that were properly qualified.
10)	Between	preposition used with two persons or things	Between Jill and her sister, there is a two-year age difference.
11)	Bad (adj.)	not good or correct in any way	He spoke bad German.
11)	Badly (adv.)	the degree to which something is not done well	He spoke German very badly.
12)	Beside	at the side of	My friend was beside me during the entire drama.
12)	Besides	in addition to	Besides two tourists from Uganda, nobody on the bus was hurt.
13)	Brake	to stop, or a mechanical device for stopping	When the driving instructor told him to brake, he put his foot down hard on the brake.
13)	Break	irregular verb: to smash or to shatter	If you drop a glass, it will break.
14)	Breathe (v.)	to draw air into the lungs and to exhale it	He was breathing when we found him but died later in the hospital.
14)	Breath (n.)	air filled with a fragrance or odor; the act of breathing	Because of a rotten tooth, he had really bad breath.
15)	Can	to be physically or mentally able to do something	He can still swim 100 meters in under a minute.
15)	May	to have permission to do something	May we watch the late-night movie on TV tonight?
16)	Censure	express strong disapproval	The other committee members censured his statement regarding their chairman’s abilities.
16)	Censor	suppress unacceptable parts	The film was censored by the government in 1997 and not allowed to be seen in the theatres until 2005.
17)	Cite	to quote as an example, authority or proof	The lawyers cited a judgment made in a similar case to support their arguments.
17)	Site	location, place or scene of something	London will like to be the site of future Olympics.
18)	Clothes	to do with clothing(what people wear)	I have taken the clothes to wash.
18)	Cloths	to do with fabric(what cloths are made of)	Marco Polo found the most superb silk cloths when he traveled to China.
19)	Compare	to examine two or more objects, people, states etc to determine similarities and/or difference.	The rainfall in July was heavy compared with the seasonal average.
19)	Contrast	to present a difference	The relatively fertile landscape of south-eastern Australia is in marked contrast with the desert landscapes of the interior.
20)	Compare to	to talk about the similarities or the differences between two things	China has a huge population compared to Australia.
20)	Compare with	to talk about both the similarities and the differences between two things.	She compared the various hotels in the brochure with each other before making her choice.
21)	Continuous	without interruption	Production was continuous as the factory operated twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
21)	Continual	happening frequently, with intervals between	I was continually forgetting to lock the door until the day we were burgled.
22)	Forth	going forward (not very often used in modern Eng)	Go forth and preach the world.
22)	Fourth	after the third part or one quarter of something	He came fourth in the 100 meter sprint.
23)	Good (adj.)	a degree of excellence	Peter speaks good German.
23)	Well (adv.)	a degree of excellence, the correct way to do something	Peter speaks German very well.
24)	Hear	to perceive sound	I can hear the wind blowing outside.
24)	Here	in this location	I was born here.
25)	Hole	an empty space surrounded by matter	There was a hole in the roof which let the rain in.
25)	Whole	entire; complete	George ate the whole cake.
26)	Hour	a defined time period; 60 minutes	They left one hour ago.
26)	Our	possessive pronoun	That is our car over there.
27)	Imply	used by a speaker suggesting something	The President implied that the army had revolted against the government.
27)	Infer	a listener understanding something from a speaker’s remarks	The journalist inferred from the President’s remarks that the army had taken control of the power.