14 Words Even Bookworms Often Confuse

There’s great joy to be gleaned from using and understanding words with precision. For the linguistically inclined, it can be the pleasure of reading and writing. It can also be an obsession. Recently, for example, a man named Bryan Henderson made headlines for editing thousands of Wikipedia pages to eradicate the phrase “comprised of” in favor of “composed of.” Of course, even amongst avid readers, there are a handful of words that often are confused and misused. So we've rounded up some of these tricky word pairs and their definitions, adding sentences to help you remember the distinctions. Join in the fun by commenting with your own mnemonic sentences that include these words.
Twins - Female twins posing in hats. Image ID: 1685125eminent v. imminent
eminent: adj. famous and respected within a particular sphere or present to a notable degree
imminent: adj. about to happen
She was an eminent author, winning prestigious awards and accolades. At the moment, what she was most anticipating was not the National Book Award ceremony, however; it was the imminent arrival of her breakfast burrito. 

substantive v. substantial
substantive: adj. having a firm basis in reality and so important, meaningful, or considerable
substantial: adj. of considerable importance, size, or worth
My point is substantive, derived from thorough research, and it is this: Your substantial chocolate stash takes up an entire drawer, so you should be willing to share.

censure v. censor
censure: v. express severe disapproval of (someone or something)
censor: v. examine (a book, film, etc.) officially and suppress unacceptable parts of it
They wanted to censor the film, removing the sex scenes. So we censured the decision in a scathing op-ed article called, "Give the People What They Want!"

indeterminate v. indeterminable
indeterminate: adj. not exactly known, established, or defined
indeterminable: adj. not able to be definitely ascertained, calculated, or identified
The goodie bag's contents were indeterminate until we opened it. There we found a coupon worth "a gajillion hugs," a number of hugs that was indeterminable.

denote v. connote
denote: v. signify the literal meaning
connote: v. (of a word) imply or suggest (an idea or feeling) in addition to the literal or primary meaning
According to the dictionary, the word denotes strength. Unfortunately, when he used the word to describe my perfume, it seemed to carry a negative connotation, especially once he began coughing.

elude v. allude
elude: v. escape from or avoid (a danger, enemy, or pursuer), typically in a skilful or cunning way; fail to be attained by (someone)
allude: v. suggest or call attention to indirectly; hint at
He eluded the trip to see the horror movie by playing sick, but the following day, when his friends alluded to the scene when the zombie attacks, he actually felt ill.

ambiguous v. ambivalent
ambiguous: adj. open to more than one interpretation; not having one obvious meaning
ambivalent: adj. having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone
She was ambivalent about the date because he was funny but also hogged the popcorn during the movie, which would give anyone mixed feelings. When he sent her an ambiguous text message that she couldn't decipher, she decided she preferred watching Downton Abbey to dating.

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Comments

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hi nypl

the words often confused provided by nypl was very useful to me and i learned many.. Confusive words.. as well new words too simply saying thanks is not enough but thank you...

affect vs. effect always

affect vs. effect always trips me up!

Affect/Effect

Affect - to make an impression or to cause a response Effect - To do a thing or to cause a thing The movie had very few special effects, but the result was so profound that the whole audience was affected by it.

Verb and Noun

I remember this one by remembering that affect is a verb and effect is a noun.

Iconic

The word iconic is so overused of late -- correctly and incorrectly. In this overuse and misuse, it has lost much of its original sense. The results are hilarious at times, but I find the word is even used incorrectly by what we might call "serious" television and radio journalists. Please consult dictionary AND thesaurus, please!

insure vs. ensure

I see that people often get insure and ensure mixed up, especially when writing

standardized testing in th NYC D O E

if all these folks who have been misusing these words had been able to take a standardized test when they were in school ... maybe they would've studied longer and known the correct usage!!! also language does morph with misuse so let's try to stop the misuse by testing for language arts and word comprehension in the early grades

Epic Misuse

The confusion twins I see most often are "affect" and "effect." <shudder shudder> My other bugaboo: As had "awesome" in the previous decade, the word "epic" has been overused in epic proportions.

anxious vs. eager

Anxious connotes nervousness. Eager refers to something about which one is enthusiastic. I am anxious about the test results. I am eager to go on vacation.

another one

Don't forget imminent vs. immanent. I only just realized this year that they are 2 different words!

Ignorant is a very overused,

Ignorant is a very overused, misused word too.

less vs. fewer

Almost no one gets that pair of words right. I hear it used incorrectly more often than I hear it correctly used--especially among politicians.

healthy/healthful

The word healthy is now commonly used to refer to food. (A healthy dinner) "Healthy" refers to being in a state of good health, " I am healthy". Food, activity etc is "healthful", good for one's health. I have not heard or seen these words used properly in a decade.

Unique-is misused so much!

Unique-is misused so much! For example: How is it possible for something to be “very unique”? It is either unique or it is not!