English is full of word pairs that sound alike or look alike but mean very different things. Below is our full library of commonly confused words, explained simply so you always know which one to use.
Peek and peak sound the same, but they have different meanings. Peek means to take a quick look, while peak refers to the highest point of something.
Many English learners confuse desert and dessert because they are spelled almost the same. A desert is a dry landscape; dessert is the sweet course after a meal.
If you are unsure whether to write stationary or stationery, remember this simple trick: stationEry has an “e” like envelope and paper goods.
Many English learners confuse breath and breathe because they look almost identical. The first is a noun, the second is the verb form of the action.
Many people confuse principal and principle because they sound exactly alike. However, they mean very different things — a principal leads a school, a principle is a rule or belief.
Apposed and opposed are different words with different meanings, even though they look and sound similar in casual reading.
Affect is usually a verb meaning to influence something; effect is usually a noun meaning the result of that influence.
A complement completes something, while a compliment is a nice thing someone says about you.
Loose describes something not tight, while lose means to misplace something or fail to win.
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