Top 10 Confusing Word Pairs

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Hello, welcome to another ABA English class. I’m Robin and today our topic is Confusing Word Pairs. So what does this mean? These are words that sound very similar, or sometimes they sound exactly alike. In this case, we refer to them as homophones. So a homophone is two or more words that have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and other word pairs may have very similar pronunciations, not exactly the same, but very similar, similar spellings, but completely different definitions. So this is why they are confusing. And why I am going to explain my top 10 confusing word pairs for you today. There are many, many more, but I have chosen 10, I’m going to give you to show you the difference and the definition with some examples.

So let’s get started. My first one is everyday versus every day. Now, these two are pronounced the same, but one is one word and the other is two words separated, every day. So what is the difference? One word is an adjective meaning ordinary, regular, or normal. So for example, I could say “Walking my dog is an everyday activity” because I do it all the time. It’s normal, I always do it. So the difference with every day, two words, is that this is an adverbial phrase of frequency. So how often do I walk my dog? “I walk my dog every day.” Okay, so two words in this case. So this is the difference here with this word pair.

Let’s look at another one. We have thought, though,and tough. Okay, so these sound very similar, but the meanings are very different. Let’s start with thought. A thought is a noun meaning an idea or an opinion. The word though is a conjunction, and it is a synonym of but, so when you kind of break up a sentence, you can add that though. It is the same as the conjunction, but then the word tough is an adjective meaning strong. If someone is tough, it means that they are strong. Okay, so the slight difference in pronunciation. Hopefully, you can hear it now. And you can, you can tell between these three, these three words that are confusing.

My next one is on time versus in time. So if you are on time, it means punctual or if a meeting starts on time, it means that it starts at the time it is scheduled. So if you say “The meeting started on time”, it means there was no delay. All right, if you arrive somewhere in time, it means that you have a little bit of time to spare, it could be one minute or two minutes or five minutes. But it means that you have a little bit of time before whatever you are supposed to be doing. For example, I arrived, “I arrived in time to get a coffee before the meeting”. So maybe you had this extra two minutes, you got a coffee, and then you went to your meeting that was on time, which means it was it started at the time it was supposed to.

My next one, this might be one of the most confusing ones and one that students ask about the most: lay versus lie. It can be so confusing, okay. So lay, l-a-y, it means to put something carefully in a flat position. Now here we are referring to things So, let’s take my notebook. “I’m going to lay my notebook on the table”. Now with this lay it must be followed by an object. So in this example, the object is my notebook. Now let’s look at lie, l-i-e. Lie is to be in or to put yourself in a flat position, like when we go to bed for example. And this does not take an object, so this is an important difference here between lay and lie. Lay takes an object, lie does not so for example, we can say “I love to lie on a beach and read”. So if you are lying on a beach, if you lie on the beach, it means you’re in a flat position. Okay, I hope that is a little bit more clear now, this difference.

My next one is do versus due. So this is a homophone because these two words have the same pronunciation. Do, d-o, is a verb and it means to perform an action. So one of the most common verbs in English the verb do, to do. So we do our homework, we do the laundry, etc, we perform an action. Due, d-u-e, is an adjective meaning that something is planned or expected. So this could be your homework, a report, I could say, “The report is due at 5pm” or “My library book is due tomorrow”. Okay, so you’re talking about a date when you have to either return something or or turn something in like a report. So this, this due, d-u-e, we use it for these cases.

Okay, another one that is very confusing for people, affect and effect. Now, these are often pronounced the same, or you can sometimes hear a little bit of a difference. Some people say affect and effect. It’s all correct. But basically affect with an A is a verb and effect with an E is a noun. So what’s the difference? So the verb means to impact or change something and the noun is the result of this change. So let’s look at a situation like the pandemic, for example. We can say “The pandemic affects all of us”, okay, the verb. And the noun, we can say “We feel the effect of the pandemic”. So it’s very similar and it’s kind of the same way or two different ways to say the same thing. But one is using the verb and one is using the noun.

Okay, the next one, further and farther, so further with a U and farther with an A. Now, when we use farther with an A, we are talking about a physical distance. Okay? So if I say “This weekend, I ran farther than I ever have”. So I ran the maximum for example. So we’re talking about a physical distance. With further with a U, this is not physical, it’s like figurative or you’re talking about something in addition to. For example, “I need further information before I make a decision”. So physical distance versus in addition or something more figurative. Okay?

A few more. All right, lose and loose. Lose, l-o-s-e, is a verb and it means to fail to win, like a team can lose or to misplace something like “I lose my keys”, for example, and loose the adjective means that something is not tight. So often we talk about our clothing, “My jacket is loose”, “The pants are loose”, for example, when something is not all the way tight. If you’re talking about like a tool or you can talk about your clothing this way. So, lose, verb and loose. So, listen to that kind of difference in the “s” pronunciation. Lose sounds more like a Z and loose is more of an “s” sound, which is an adjective, okay.

Now, the difference between bear and bare. So, these are homophones, they sound the same. The bear, b-e-a-r, can mean the animal or it can also mean in the verb form to tolerate or endure something. So you can say that a situation is “very difficult to bear”, was too difficult to bear, whereas bare, b-a-r-e, is an adjective meaning naked, uncovered or empty. So you could, a person could be bare, if they’re not wearing clothes, but also you can talk about like a space in your house could be bare, like the cupboard. If you have no food in your cupboard, you would say that “The cupboard is bare”.

Alright, and my last example, we finally reached number 10 of my top 10, is breathe and breath. Okay, so this is a verb and noun difference here as well. Breathe with an E on the end means to take in and let out air with your lungs. You breathe, okay, and the noun form breath is this air that you take in, “I take a breath”.

Alright, so now I want you to practice in the comments, you can tell me which pairs are confusing for you. I’m sure there are some that I haven’t mentioned. So you can write those, or which ones are the most difficult for you to pronounce or to remember the difference between them. I hope that I’ve cleared up some of your doubts today and if you want to write some examples to practice in the comments, then I’ll be happy to read them. So thanks again for joining today. I hope you enjoyed the class and I will see you next week. Take care, bye!