Confusing English Words Fix Common Vocabulary Mistakes Errors
Hello! I’m Emma from mmmEnglish!
There are plenty of English words that confuse you
because they look similar, they sound similar.
I know because when I was at
school and I was learning English, I also
found these words really confusing.
Lots of native speakers find these pairs of
words confusing!
In fact, this lesson will be useful for
you if you’re learning English as a
second language or if you are a native
English speaker, you might even be
reminded about some spelling mistakes
that you’re making.
Because these words can be kind of tricky!
In this lesson today, I’m going to share some pairs of
words that are often confused because
they look similar and they sound similar.
Words like ‘advice’ and ‘advise’, ‘accept’ and
‘except’, ‘aloud’ and ‘allowed’,
‘all together’ ‘altogether’, ‘along’ ‘a long’,
‘desert’ ‘dessert’,
‘principal’ ‘principle’,
‘complement’ ‘compliment’.
Confusing, huh? Like I said
native English speakers often confuse
these words as well, so don’t worry, we
are going to fix these problems right
here, right now in this lesson!
As usual, I’ve made you a worksheet that you can
download to practice what you learn in
this lesson but you’ll have to watch
until the end to find out how to get it!
Imagine how thrilled you’re going to be
when you notice a native English speaker
misspelling one of the words that you’re
about to learn today!
And you will get the chance to correct them!
Okay, enough with the chitchat!
Let’s get on with the lesson!
‘Aloud’ and ‘Allowed’
These two words are pronounced in
exactly the same way. ‘Aloud’ means to
speak out loud. ‘I’m speaking aloud right
now!’ ‘Read that paragraph aloud so that the
rest of the class can hear you!’
‘Allowed’ is the past tense form of the verb ‘allow’
but it’s also an adjective that shows permission.
‘You are allowed to bring a
small bag with you.’ ‘You are not allowed
to wear shoes inside the house.’
‘You are not allowed to speak aloud!’
‘Complement’ and ‘Compliment’. Both of these words
are pronounced in the same way but
‘complement’ with an ‘e’ is the verb
and it’s used to show that something goes
well with something else, when it adds to
or it improves something else. ‘That hat
really complements the dress you’re
wearing. They look good together.’
‘What type of cheese is this? It really
complements the flavours of the fruit.’
‘We chose plants that would complement each other.
They really suit each other.’
‘Compliment’ with an ‘i’ is the one that
you probably are most familiar with.
It’s the noun that we use when you say
something nice to someone. You pay
someone a compliment.
‘I want to compliment you on your performance, you
did a really good job.’
‘I don’t take compliments very well. I get really shy
and embarrassed and try to change the subject.’
‘Though I don’t often give
compliments, those shoes really complement your outfit!’
‘All together’ and ‘altogether’
These words are pronounced exactly the same
but you’re focusing on the spelling here.
We’ve got two words versus one.
‘All together’ means all in the same place, at
one time. ‘Let’s meet at the roller
coaster at 12 - we want to ride it all together!’
‘Altogether’ is an adverb that
means completely.
‘I’m a vegetarian, now. I’ve stopped eating meat altogether!’
‘The public transport system in Melbourne
is so good! Some people
have stopped driving their cars altogether!’
‘Altogether’ can also be used
to summarize a point.
‘Altogether, I think it’s a good decision for the company.’
Oh! ‘Altogether’ can also mean ‘in total’.
‘Altogether,
you’ll pay $3,000 for your flights and
accommodation.’
‘Altogether you’ll pay $5,000 if you travel all together.’
‘Desert’ and ‘dessert’.
There is a slight pronunciation difference here and
it’s simply a matter of syllable stress.
In ‘desert’, the stressed syllable is the
first syllable. In ‘dessert’, the second
syllable is the stressed syllable.
Both of these words are nouns. ‘Desert’ is an
area of land that doesn’t have much water.
‘If you drive from Melbourne across
Australia to Perth, you have to drive through the desert.’
‘Dessert’ is of course,
cakes, ice creams, sweets.
It’s the meal that follows a main meal
like dinner or even lunch!
‘If you don’t finish your dinner, you won’t get your dessert!’
I’m sure every parent, no matter
what language tells their children that.
‘My favorite dessert is Tiramisu!’
‘Dessert’ can also be a verb. It sounds
like ‘dessert’ but it’s spelt like ‘desert’.
So ‘dessert’ can also be a verb and it
means to leave someone alone or abandon them.
‘Principle’ and ‘principal’. These two
words used to confuse me all the time!
‘Principal’, ‘principal’ is a noun and also
an adjective. As a noun it is the head of
a school and I remember my grade four
teacher always telling me to remember
that the principal is your pal, your friend.
But ‘principal’ can also mean
important or significant when it’s used
as an adjective. ‘Our principal concern is
the safety of the children.’
So here, ‘principal’ means most important.
‘I have a meeting with the school principal
this afternoon.’
‘Principle’ is only a noun and it’s a
truth, a law or a rule that shapes how
something is done. ‘There are three main
environmental principles that shaped this project.’
You might also hear
expressions like he’s a man or she’s a
woman ‘of principle’, which means that they
always do the right thing. They always do
what is morally right or morally correct.
‘We need to protect the community,
it’s a matter of principle.’
‘It’s the right thing to do.’
‘Along’ and ‘a long’.
They sound exactly the same,
though again, we’re looking at spelling here.
Two words versus one.
‘Along’ is an adverb or
a preposition and it means to move along
something (horizontally) on a flat surface like this.
‘It’s such a nice night tonight!
Let’s go for a walk along the river.’
‘Can I bring my friend along?’
You’ve also heard it in the phrasal verb ‘get along’.
To ‘get along’ with someone. So that means
to have a good relationship with them.
‘A long’ is a little different here
because long is an adjective that refers
to the length of something either in
distance or in time.
‘A’ is an article here,
used with the noun that follows the
adjective ‘long’. So here, ‘long’ is an
adjective and the singular article ‘a’
can be used only with a countable noun.
‘A long day.’
‘A long trip.’
‘A long road.’
‘It’s been such a long journey.’
‘There is a long list of names on the board.’
‘I walked along a long, windy road!’
‘Advise’ and ‘Advice’.
Can you hear the difference in
pronunciation between the two words?
They’re very similar. ‘Advise’ and ‘advice’.
The difference is in the final consonant sound
Very slight.
‘Advice’ is a noun.
It’s when your friend has a problem and you
offer them a suggestion about
how to solve the problem or what they
should do to fix the problem.
You are offering a piece of advice.
It’s a noun, an uncountable noun, so it’s always ‘advice’.
Not ‘advices’!
But people often ask for advice when they want
some recommendations or some suggestions about how
to deal with the situation. It might be
about a relationship, a job, children, school,
even a way to manage your boss at work.
‘Hey, can I ask your advice?’
‘I’ve got a piece of advice for you!’
‘I always listen to my dad’s advice.’
‘Advise’ is a verb.
And it’s the action of recommending or suggesting
something to someone else,
usually because you’ve had some experience
dealing with that that situation before.
‘I need someone to advise me on the
subjects I need to complete for my course.’
‘The flight attendant will advise you
where your nearest exit is.’
And an ‘advisor’ is the noun for someone who
advises you or they give suggestions and
recommendations to you.
OK what about
‘accept’ and ‘except’?
These words are very
very similar but there is a tiny, tiny
difference in pronunciation in the first
vowel sound.
In ‘accept’, it’s
the lazy schwa sound
‘Accept’
For ‘except’, it’s
‘Except’.
Very, very slight. You can almost
hardly hear the difference!
‘Accept’ is a verb and it describes the action of
agreeing to receive something or do something.
‘You need to accept the Terms and Conditions.’
‘You’ve been so generous already.
We can’t accept any more money from you.’
‘The police told me that the
case was closed.
But I just can’t accept it.’
‘Except’ is a conjunction or a preposition and it
means ‘not including’. ‘I walk the dog every day
except Tuesdays, because I work late.’
‘I’ve been to every country in
Southeast Asia, except Cambodia.’
‘I love food! I’ll eat anything! Except oysters, yuk!’
OK well I hope you found that useful!
I’ve made you a worksheet which you can
download and practice so that you can
really make sure you’re using these
words correctly. You can download it just
up there. If you really like this lesson
then please let me know, like it and tell
me in the comments. There are so many
other English words that have similar
pronunciation, similar spelling like
‘through’ and ‘threw’ and ‘break’ and ‘brake’,
‘lose’ and ‘loose’, ‘course’ and ‘coarse’
Let me know if you enjoyed this lesson and I
will definitely make you another one!
That’s it from me today, make sure you
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you want to keep watching more English
video lessons then check out this one
or this one!
Bye for now!