Confusables are a common problem that editors find in texts.  These are words that may sound (or almost sound) the same, but they are spelt differently and mean different things.  They could be words like: Site/cite/sight, their/there/they’re, to/too/two, passed/past, effect/affect.

There are also confusing words that have meanings that are very close, but they need to be used with care.  These words may have a similar root, but they do have different meanings.  They can need careful thought: Disinterested/uninterested, ensure/assure, comprise/compose, infer/imply.

These words cause problems for native speakers and foreign learners alike.  They tend to slip through into published text because the spell check on the computer won’t pick them up – if you wrote ‘weather’ when you meant ‘whether’, you’ve spelt a word correctly and the computer isn’t clever enough to pick out that you’ve used the wrong word.

Why bother?

Why should you care?  Won’t the reader of the text understand the meaning by looking at the context?  Will they even notice that there is a mistake when the words are so similar?  Plenty of organizations and companies make it clear that using correct English is essential to them.  On their website the BBC points out that if journalists use the wrong word (in writing or verbally) it reflects badly on the BBC and it jeopardises their good reputation.  The Plain English Campaign claims that around £500 million pounds of the British Government’s money has  been saved by the work of the Campaign over the last 2 decades.  Poor communication wastes time and therefore money!

There are no short cuts for dealing with confusables.  Taking some time to focus on them and learn their uses is the only way to avoid embarrassing errors.  However, there are some great websites to point you towards the most commonly mistaken words:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_20.htm

http://www.elearnenglishlanguage.com/difficulties/difficulties.html

For further help, Fowler’s Modern English Usage gives a detailed description of the correct way to use many confusing English words as well as flagging up grammar and punctuation problems.  The book was originally published in 1926, but remains a popular reference book for editors to this day.

You can test your knowledge of confusables by trying a test here:-

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_72.htm#confusex1

Are there other parts of the English language that are causing you confusion?  If you have particular editing problems please post a comment below.