Commonly Confused Words

Introduction In the English language there are some words that are spelled differently but sound exactly the same, and there are some words that are spelled the same but are pronounced differently. Then, there are those words that do not share the same spelling or pronunciation but are often confused. These are your commonly confused words.

Introduction Homonyms Confusables Its / It’s Your / You’re To / Two / Too Lose / Loose There / Their / They’re Confusables Belief and Relief Life / Live Where / Were Been / Being This / These Everyday / Every day Then / Than

It’s common for the cat to lick its claws. Its and It’s This is one of the most troublesome pairs because the possessive pronoun ITS does not carry an apostrophe as in: The cat’s claws. Since this is a possessive pronoun, it may help to think of the S in ITS as already belonging to the word. The apostrophe is used in the contraction IT’S (short for it is). It’s common for the cat to lick its claws.

Your and You’re Again, this is a case of a possessive pronoun and a contraction. YOUR shows that something belongs to you. YOU’RE is short for You are. You’re wasting your time with this project.

To, Too, and Two TO TOO can mean also or indicate degree preposition Walk to the car (toward) infinitive indicator To skate TOO can mean also or indicate degree TWO is the number following one The two girls wanted to go to the skating rink too, but it was too late.

Lose and Loose With this pair, you have to distinguish between the verb and the adjective TO LOSE (v) is to be unable to find Notice there is only one O in To and Lose TOO LOOSE (adj) means it’s not tight or fastened enough Notice there are two O’s in Too and Loose To Lose a ring because it’s too loose is infuriating.

Their , They’re, and There THEIR: (possessive pronoun) Belonging to them THEY’RE: (contraction) They are THERE: (adv) At or in that place (primary def.) They’re leaving their tired dog over there.

Who or whom? These often cause confusion. It’s easier to remember which are subject pronouns and which are object pronouns.

Subject pronouns Who Whoever (think he/she) Subject pronouns do the action.

Object pronouns Whom Whomever (think him, her) Object pronouns receive the action of the verb.

Having trouble? Don’t know when to use a subject or an object pronoun? Substitute he and him. If the subject pronoun works in the sentence, use who or whoever. If the object pronoun works better, then use whom or whomever.

Example (Who, Whom) is that child? Choices: Him is that child. He is that child. Therefore: Who is that child.

Rearranging to make sense In order to make this shortcut work for you, you may have to rearrange the subject and verb in a question. (Who, Whom) are you calling? You are calling he? You are calling him? Whom are you calling?

One last example Rearrange: The coach picks (whoever, whomever) Incorrect: the coach picks he Correct: the coach picks him I’m sure that whomever the coach picks will help our team.

One last thought … Cannot remember which is a subject pronoun and which is an object pronoun? Because he/she ends in a vowel, you know it goes with who/whoever (subject pronoun). Because him/her ends in a consonant, you know it goes with whom/whomever (object pronoun).