Commonly Confused Words

The traffic got slower and slower until it was ___. (stationary, stationery)

Cereal or Serial - "Here's what we do. We leave the car here, we take the plates off, we scratch the _____ number off the engine block, and we walk away." (Kramer in Seinfeld)

Aural or Oral - While visual learners prefer to learn information through charts and graphs, _____ learners prefer to hear information.

He is trying to find a family that wants to take a vacation at Disney World, ___ of another donor. (compliments, complements).

This force feedback is needed for security constraints and to ___ regularity and quality of parts. (insure or ensure)

Allusion or Illusion - "The single biggest problem in communication is the _____ that it has taken place." (George Bernard Shaw)

Forth or Fourth - "A reformer is one who sets _____ cheerfully toward sure defeat." (Lydia M. Child)

Chord or Cord - The governor touched a responsive _____ with voters of both parties, especially with her promise to veto any budget plan that included an increase in taxes.

Click or Clique - The vice president of China belongs to a _____ known as the "princelings" descendants of prominent communist officials.

Hardy or Hearty - "_____ laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors." (Norman Cousins)

The ___ is encouraging the development of the property for both employment and recreation. (council, counsel).

Kofi Annan ___ Ban Ki-moon as the Secretary-General of the UN. (precede, proceed)

Climactic or Climatic - The new music director favors full-bodied, robust sound, which can build to daring decibel levels in _____ moments.

I would like to earn more, but this isn't my (principal or principle) reason for leaving the job.

Warm bread (compliments, complements) any meal.

Capital or Capitol - Bismarck is the _____ of North Dakota and the state’s second largest city.

Our ___ and coastal waterways are the busiest in the world particularly with oil tankers. (straits or straights)

The school is based on the fundamental ___ that each child should develop its full potential. (principle or principal)

Liable or Libel - "If you shoot me, you're _____ to lose a lot of those humanitarian awards." (Chevy Chase in Fletch)

Formally or Formerly - "Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework _____ eaten by the dog." (Doug Larson)

Flew, Flu, or Flue - "The Wright brothers _____ right through the smoke screen of impossibility." (Charles F. Kettering)

A staunch conservative, he frequently ___ from the court’s majority opinion. (descent, dissent)

Lead or Led - "We can chart our future clearly and wisely only when we know the path which has _____ to the present." (Adlai E. Stevenson)

The jaw was retracted and the skin of the upper ___ was cut at the midline. (palette or palate)

The sculptures show qualities that are observed in death: bloating, distended bellies and ___, closed eyes, and puffy faces. (navals or navels)

She acts as tax ___ for the National Association of Realtors. (council, counsel)

Flare or Flair - The bright spot in the sky was an unusually large solar _____, a stupendous explosion that belched radiation and billions of tons of matter far into space.

Collaborate or Corroborate - The prosecutor closed the case, admitting that he was unable to find witnesses to _____ the allegations made against Mr. Soprano.

She sat down and ___ to tell me about her skiing holiday. (precede, proceed)

Credible or Credulous - "The most imaginative people are the most _____: for them everything is possible." (Alexander Chase)

Affect or Effect - "Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will _____ us." (Stephen R. Covey)

Eminent or Imminent - If so _____ an establishment as a three-star Michelin restaurant can serve toxic shellfish, what hope is there for anyone else?

Finally or Finely - "My sister's bringing up had made me sensitive. In the little world in which children have their existence, whosoever brings them up, there is nothing so _____ perceived and so _____ felt as injustice." (Charles Dickens,

Fair or Fare - The driver teased the poor child who had forgotten her bus _____.

I understand that aircraft must reduce their height to 3,000 ft 10 miles from the runway in order to establish a final ___ path. (descent or dissent)