lighting, lightening, lightning
One I frequently see on social media:
Whoops instead of oops
Two words I get confused in reading: uniformed and uninformed.
I’ve seen both used in front of “police” and I have to double-check.
Some of these mistakes are likely misspellings rather than misunderstandings.
Now for my contribution:
Insure: To purchase insurance for.
Assure: To remove someone’s doubts about something.
Ensure: To take steps so that (something) will certainly happen.
ARGH: One of the on line dictionaries uses the second third definition for ASSURE.
Becomes ironically hilarious when someone talks about “wreckless driving” which of course would (nearly) equate to someone driving safely and defensively, i.e. unlikely to get in a wreck in the first place.
Morbidity vs Co-morbidity vs Mortality
Morbidity = having an unhealthy condition.
Co-Morbidity = having more than 1 unhealthy condition, which may or may not have the same cause.
Mortality = # of deaths resulting from an unhealthy condition.
Begrudgingly, I think the ship has sailed on that one. It is rare that I hear “disinterested” to me the impartial sense of the word. I also tend to avoid it now, as I don’t know if the listener will know which sense I mean it in, or is even familiar with the classical definition. No biggie – “impartial” works fine – but I kind of liked that word in the “disinterested judge” sense.
I still don’t know whether the band Live rhymes with ‘give’ or ‘jive’.
The latter. (Or at least I have never heard anyone say the former, and I’ve known a few fans.)
Perhaps this is my British dialect, but I use them (verbally) interchangeably. What is the difference to you?
Also, I think “insure” is a standard variant spelling of your definition of “ensure”. In the U.K. 30 years ago I would have treated this as an error, but I’d say it might even be the more common way to spell it in the U.S.?
hone and home
You hone your skills. You home in on an issue.
I think that’s also one where “hone in on an issue” might eventually become standard. The meaning is so close that it feels like it makes sense.
In my American English dialect, they are interchangeable, except maybe for the verb sense that “So-and-so whoops up the crowd.” Or “to whoop” in the sense of a beating. “Whoops” and “oops” are both interjections signifying a minor mishap of some sort.
Not really. To hone is to sharpen. You can hone a knife or hone your skills. To home in on something is to approach a resolution.
I understand the difference. But surely you can see that the meanings are similar? Perhaps one might regard “hone in on a solution” as metaphorical. But clearly both of them share a general sense of refining to create something that is better / works better.
“potpourri” and “patchouli”. They both smell like ass, but in completely different ways.
I wonder where Wreckless Eric obtained his name?
Both can be used in front of ‘police’, in various circumstances.
My favourite words-to-be confused-by are enormity and enormousness. Some people are amazed by the enormity of the Milky Way galaxy, for instance.
Whoops are loud cries of joy or excitement. "a moment’s silence was followed by whoops of delight
Oops is a sign of mild dismay. “Oops, I slipped.” It can also be used to dissemble. “Oops, I just backed into your car.”
I have also seen “Opps” which is just plain wrong.
Sitting on the Reference Shelf above my writing desk is a copy of The Penguin Dictionary of Confusibles, which I picked up ages ago at some used book store. It’s full of these kinds of things.
Sadly, it seems to no longer be in print. And the web page for a used copy seems itself to be hopelessly confused:
Here’s the description they give of the book:
Confusable, indeed!
Here’s a better review: