English words that we are constantly confused with.

1. Confusing Words
Prepared by Kirsten Lee
Think Tank Centre

2. Accept vs. Except
• Accept - To take something from a person
• Except - Excluding – I want all the
toppings except the mayonnaise
• The pronunciation is almost the same.

3. Affect vs. Effect
• Affect - The verb – His father’s death
affected him.
• Effect - The noun – His father’s death had
an effect on him.
• The pronunciation is almost the same.

4. Bath vs. Bathe
• Bath - The noun
• Bathe -The verb – I like to bathe in the
morning.
• The noun has the voiced ‘th’ sound and the verb
has the unvoiced ‘th’ sound

5. Sunbathe vs. Sunbath
• Sunbathe - Right.
• Sunbath - Wrong!

6. Council vs. Counsel
• Council - A group of people who meet for
a specific purpose
• Counsel - To give advice
• Also: councillor, counsellor

7. Its vs. It’s
• Its - The possessive form – The cat licked
its bum.
• It’s - It is

8. Loss vs. Lost
• Loss - The noun – George was blamed
for the loss of the money
• Lost - The adjective/past participle

9. Lose vs. Loose
• Lose - I don’t want to lose you!
• Loose - Not tight – These jeans are too
loose; I need a belt

10. Advice vs. Advise
• Advice The noun – Please give me some
advice
• Advise The verb – Please advise me

11. Through vs. Thorough vs.
Though
• Through - To the other side – The car
passed through the tunnel
• Thorough - Complete – He did a thorough
job
• Though - Although