Words one can get confused

through / thorough
breech / breach
fare / fair

It only makes sense as an increasingly obscure and inappropriate extension of the pair just above. I.e “cupola, copula, copulate, carapace.”

Which could have been extended further as “carrack, barrack, barrage, fromage,” etc.

Sorry if that was too subtle for you.

sanguine: characterized by an abundance and circulation of blood, warm, optimistic
sanguinary: bloodthirsty, bloodsoaked, gory

sangria: a drink made from wine and fruit juice. In Spanish, literally ‘bleeding’
sangaree: Anglicized form of ‘sangria’

Not words, but three people I keep conflating:

Virginia Woolfe: English Modernist writer.
Claire Wolfe: American libertarian writer.
Clare Boothe Luce: American conservative writer and politician.

(There are also a number of less prominent women named Virginia Booth).

Speaking of whom…
Thomas Wolfe: Early 20th century American novelist, author of Look Homeward, Angel et al
Tom Wolfe: Late 20th century American journalist and novelist, author of The Right Stuff, The Bonfire of the Vanities, et al

portamento: a glide between two notes
partimento: improvisation on a given bassline

Which one is those red things they stick in olives? :stuck_out_tongue:

If we’re going there, there are three women I get confused. They were all born in the 19th century and all have three-part names with the last name having one syllable and containing the sequence -ow-. For all I know, I’m the only idiot who can’t keep them straight.

Julia Ward Howe: author of the lyrics to “The Battle Hymn of the Republic”
Juliette Gordon Low: founder of the Girl Scouts
Harriet Beecher Stowe: author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

Two names I’ve heard people confuse (to my amusement) are Katherine McLintock, and Catharine MacKinnon.

The latter is a radical feminist who went off the deep end of anti-porn activism by way of being one of the first people to reify sexual harassment, and recognize it as a crime against women. She’s a brilliant lawyer, but sometimes she’s done more harm than good, when things have happened such as some of the anti-porn laws she’s gotten through have done nothing to take down trafficking in child porn, nor even gotten any stores to rethink carrying Hustler among the periodicals, but HAVE done loads to silence small publications that were voices for lesbians, trans people, and so forth.

Katherine McLintock was the character Maureen O’Hara played in the John Wayne vehicle McLintock!

Emma Goldman vs. Emma Lazarus? I don’t really see it myself, but I suppose they were both named Emma, both had Jewish relatives, both lived in New York City (Lazarus died in 1887 though), and were both involved in activism.

At first I thought you were talking about Kate McKinnon.

boor: an uncultured or ill-mannered person
bore: an uninteresting person
boar: a wild swine or a male swine
Boer: a white South African of Dutch ancestry

I remember that ABC news commentator David Brinkley got in trouble on election night 1996 when he was caught on an open mic that he didn’t know was open. He called Bill Clinton one of the words above. It was widely reported at the time that Brinkley called Clinton a “bore” but I thought at the time that he meant “boor.”

I’m with you on this one. Not sure I agree with Brinkley, who was then a tired (and tiresome) old-school rightist. But I do agree with your that that’s what Brinkley meant / said.

Here’s another bore noun. One I already cited once today in another thread (what’re the odds? :slight_smile: ):

Brinkley could have been comparing Clinton to a strong tide that pushes up the river, against the current.

haft: the handle of a tool or weapon
heft: weight

diffuse: not focused
defuse: to remove the fuse from [e.g., a bomb]

determinate: clearly defined
determinant: serving to determine or limit; an element that determines the nature of something

I never use words like biennial because I can’t keep it straight in my head–either as a writer or a reader–whether it’s supposed to mean twice a year or once every two years. Having looked up several such words, I find that I’m just as confused as ever.

biennial: happening once every two years
biannual: happening twice per year
semiannual: happening twice per year

biweekly: (1) happening once every two weeks or (2) happening twice per week
semiweekly: happening twice per week

bimonthly: (1) happening once every two months or (2) happening twice per month
semimonthly: happening twice per month

Diffuse is also a verb, meaning to spread out. One gas or liquid may diffuse into another. A fart diffuses throughout a room.

That’s a good one. The only ways around it are to use “fortnightly,” which is uncommon enough in US English to confuse some readers, or “twice a week/month/year,” which is what I do.