14 common pairs of words that everyone confuses

Here’s another one that’s downright mind-boggling. These one-syllable verbs mean (slightly) different things, despite often being used interchangeably. “Lie” means (in addition to its telling-a-fib definition) to recline or assume a horizontal position. So you “lie” down on your bed to go to sleep. “Lay” means something similar – but it needs an object. What that means is that you’re putting something else down into a horizontal position. So you’d “lay” your sleeping baby into her crib. But, to make matters even more confusing, the past-tense form of “lie” is “lay”. So you’d say, “Right after I lay down last night, I had to get up again to use the bathroom”. As for the past-tense form of “lay,” it’s “laid”. Yup, it’s a lot.

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Ah, another tricky one that comes up quite a bit. “Lose” and “loose” are both fairly common words, at least compared to some of these other commonly confused words, and they mean different things. If the word you want to use is a verb, you’re most likely thinking of “lose”. “Lose”, with one O, means “to misplace”, “to come to be without”, or “to come off worse in”. You “lose” your keys, and you can also “lose” your balance or your cool. You also “lose” a sports match or a bet.

“Loose” can be a verb, meaning “to release,” as in “They loosed the racehorses before the gun went off”. But this use is very rare and somewhat old-fashioned. “Loose” is most often an adjective. If your clothing is too big for you, it’s “loose”, not “lose”. And if your dog runs away, she got “loose” (or is “on the loose”), not “lose”.

The basic difference between these two is that “than” is a conjunction and “then” is an adverb. But…that doesn’t help too much. “Than” is the word you’ll want to use when you’re comparing things: “I’m faster than you.” “I like this house better than your old one.” You’ll also see this word in the phrase “other than”, which means “except” or “besides”: “Other than the opening scene, I liked the movie a lot”.

“Then” usually indicates time, often in a sequence: “I’m going to the library, and then I’ll meet you at home”. It can also refer to a certain time in the past – “Things were simpler back then” – or in the future – “Great, looking forward to seeing you then!” But it doesn’t have to refer to time. It can also mean “as a consequence”, as in: “If you don’t want to go, then don’t.”

If you’re talking about someone struggling to make a decision or having their confidence shaken, you’ll want to use the verb “waver,” with no I. For example: “His confidence in his ability to win never wavered.” “Waver” can also mean a more physical shaking; the light of a flickering candle can waver, or the sound coming from a faulty speaker. It can also be a noun – but one that means the act of wavering. And finally, if you’re talking about a person, animal, or object that’s waving hello, that’s a waver. “Waiver”, with an I, meanwhile, is the word that refers to a document you might sign. If you give up a right to, say, sue an extreme sports company if you get hurt, you’ve agreed to a waiver. (It can mean the document or agreement itself, or just the act of giving up the right.) “Waiver”, solely a noun, comes from the verb “waive,” also with an I, which signifies the act of voluntarily giving something up.

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These two are tricky because “who” is the root word of both, so they both have to do with identifying people. “Who’s” is a contraction, shortening “who is”. So you’d say “Who’s going to the park later?” It can also mean “who has,” as in, “He’s the one who’s been texting me.” “Whose”, meanwhile, is a possessive pronoun. You’d say “Whose shoes are these?” not “Who’s shoes are these?” But it doesn’t have to be used in a questioning manner, or for an unknown. You could also say something like, “She’s one of the people whose style I’ve always admired.”

Next, read up on these words and phrases you’re probably using all wrong.

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Source: RD.com