Scribd
Upload
21 views16 pages

Words Often Confused in Pronunciation and Usage

This document discusses words that are often confused in pronunciation and usage. It provides examples of commonly confused word pairs such as affect and effect, confident and confidant, accept and except, allude and elude, emigrate and immigrate, all ready and already. Synonyms, homonyms, homophones, and homographs are defined. Homonyms are words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings. Homophones are pronounced the same but differ in spelling and meaning. Homographs are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. Examples are given for each category.

Uploaded by

Account
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
Download as pdf or txt
21 views16 pages

Words Often Confused in Pronunciation and Usage

This document discusses words that are often confused in pronunciation and usage. It provides examples of commonly confused word pairs such as affect and effect, confident and confidant, accept and except, allude and elude, emigrate and immigrate, all ready and already. Synonyms, homonyms, homophones, and homographs are defined. Homonyms are words that are spelled and pronounced the same but have different meanings. Homophones are pronounced the same but differ in spelling and meaning. Homographs are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. Examples are given for each category.

Uploaded by

Account
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1/ 16

Words often Confused in

Pronunciation and Usage


• Mastery of vocabulary is essential for effective communication

• Words, phrases, and idioms express the subtle nuances of meaning

• A wrong word at a wrong place confuses the reader/listener

• Select proper words to make speech/writing accurate and effective


Examples of Commonly Confused Words
• Affect (verb): to influence
Eg: The moon affects the tides.
Extreme humidity may adversely
affect the performance of the system.

• Effect
(n.): result/outcomes
Inflation is one of the effects of war.
• Confident: a feeling of self-reliance or of certainty about something
He appeared confident at the interview
• Confidant: refers to one to whom secrets or private thoughts are
disclosed/ a trusted friend
Meera is Ashok’s friend and confidant.

• Accept / Except
• Accept (v): to receive with consent
• Except (v): exclude/but
• Allude/Elude
Allude (v.): to indirectly mention
Elude (v.): to physically or mentally escape from
• Emigrate/Immigrate
Emigrate (v): to move away from a city or country to live somewhere
else
Immigrate (v): means to move into a country from somewhere else
• All ready/Already
All ready: Complete, prepared.
Already (adv.): by this time, previously
Synonyms
Often mistakenly used:
• Leave/Abandon
Leave: the most common word
She left for school.
Abandon: the sense of entirely leaving or giving up
They abandoned the house.
Homonyms
• Two or more words having the same spelling and same pronunciation
but different meanings (etymologically unrelated)
Examples: bear (animal)/ bear (endure)
can (metal container)/ can (able to)
address (to speak to)/ address (location)
kind (type)/ kind (caring)
pulse (throbbing)/ pulse (edible seeds)
Homophones
• The Greek root word phon means “sound”
• A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another but
differs in both meaning and spelling
Examples: knew/ new
heir/air
two/too
ale/ail
seen-scene
Homographs
• Two or more words which are spelled the same but not necessarily
pronounced the same and have different meanings and origins

Some examples of homographs are:


tear (drop)/tear (rip)
live (place of residence)/ live (happening in the present time)
minute (time)/ minute (small)
wind (flow of air)/ wind (to turn)
Useful Links
• https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/

• https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/usage/commonly-confused-words

• https://www.myenglishteacher.eu/question/difference-between-
homonyms-and-homographs/
Thank you

You might also like