I’m Still Finding Words That Are Easy to Confuse

Sigh. Melissa is taking a blogging break. I so loved Grammar Police Mondays. Really. I’m not even exaggerating. If it’s about words and word usage, I will love it.

Anyway, with her off being with her family because I suppose that’s more important than us, here’s another set of easily confused words and how not to confuse them.

Mariticide is the killing of your husband. Matricide is the killing of your mother. You don’t want to mix those up. The consequences would be terrible. Remember, killing your mom is just killing your dad with an m instead of a p.

Chord/cord, suggested by Kate Larkendale way back during my last Confused Words post. I know Latin liked to distinguish words of Greek origin by using ch for the hard k sound, but do we still have to do it in English? It’s been like fifteen hundred years. It seems like we can let it go. But if people insist upon using it, remember that cord is either wood or a rope/cable, while chord has to do with music. Or a bunch of esoteric meanings in geometry, engineering and aeronautics.

Current/currant

I had to write current for something and I spelled it with an a because I do that with words a lot (any word that ends with -ent or -ant, I WILL spell it with the wrong vowel every freaking time). A red, squiggly line didn’t pop up underneath. Turns out currant is a real word, a type of raisin. I had no idea that it was a real word. Or that there were types of raisins.

Creek/creak

Another word I have to mention because I mix it up. A creek is a body of water, while a creak is a noise. I don’t know of an easy way to tell them apart. You just have to remember that double e is water and e-a is sound.

Route/root/rout

This one is super annoying because root is always root (pronounced so it rhymes with boot), rout is always rout (pronounced so it’s out with an r in front), but route can be pronounced root or rout. It’s like they were designed for the specific purpose of sowing confusion. Just don’t forget that e when you mean a road/path, otherwise you’re writing about something completely different.

So this is the last word/etymology post of the year : ). I hope you loved them as much as I did!

…You didn’t love them as much as I did. Well, tough. I’m never going to stop.

Even More Words that Are Easy to Confuse

Words can be confusing. They sound the same but mean something completely different. Or they seem to mean the same thing but they really don’t. Because language is designed just to mess with our heads. Here’s another set of words that you should keep in mind.

Cheep/cheap

The first is the sound a bird makes. The second is in regards to money. I have to remind myself of that every time I use one of these words, otherwise I’ll end up writing entire paragraphs about the cheepness of someone who refuses to spend a lot of money…again (no I’m not showing it to you. Too embarrassing). The easiest way I’ve found to remember is that cheep is a synonym for tweet and both have two e’s, and that birds generally don’t have enough money to be cheap in the first place.

Hanger/hangar

I’ve seen these words mixed up lots of times. They’re homophones and it’s easy to forget that the place where a plane goes is spelled with an a at the end. Just remember: a plane can’t land in a hanger. It can land on one, but it’s very unlikely ; ).

Phase/faze

More homophones. I’ve actually not seen faze used in its proper sense much, but I’ve seen people who talk about the fazes of the moon and it makes me cringe (not any of my writer friends, thankfully). Unless you’re talking about someone’s perturbed reaction, it’s phase.

Mistrust/distrust

A lot of people use these interchangeably, but there is a subtle difference. Mistrust is a general feeling, a gut reaction, whereas distrust is based on past experience. You may mistrust someone at first sight because they look or act suspicious, but if there’s someone you know has betrayed someone and you’re wary of them doing the same to you, you’re distrustful of them.

Slander/libel

These words are easy to mix up, but libel refers to defamation by printed words or pictures (like from a newspaper or magazine) and slander is defamation by an oral statement (say, on television). If you need a synonym for defame, slander is probably your best bet.

Websites for Writers

Not a major website this time. But check out this list of the top 10 misused English words. I have to admit, there were some new ones for me. Instant—yeah, that makes sense. Enormity—whoa. Did not realize that. Refute—okay, it’s specific to evidence.

The others I was pretty much up on, although in all honesty, I only knew about decimate because I read THE ZOMBIE WARS. And although I realize it’s wrong, I still use less and disinterested incorrectly. I know. Shameful.

Language habits are funny. One misuse of a word can spread like a disease, one that’s highly contagious but not fatal. I don't think we have much to worry about because it takes quite a while for a word’s meaning to change even slightly. As those of you who actually read my etymology posts should know.

Are there any words you can’t help using incorrectly? Does it drive you crazy when someone says “I was so shocked my jaw literally hit the floor?” No? Just me then?