Easily Confused Words List 3

Your/You’re Your: shows possession or ownership over something “This is your car." You’re: Short for YOU ARE “You’re in big trouble.”

Wright/Right/Rite/Write Wright: A person who builds or composes things “He is a famous playwright.” Rite: A formal religious ceremony “He experienced his baptismal rite today.” Write: To mark or form letters; to compose an essay “Our teacher made us write the entire class period.” Right: All other uses “Turn right at the next light.” “I don’t know if this answer is right.”

Quiet/Quite/Quit Quiet: Noun or verb: silence or to silence. “They slept in the quiet all afternoon.” “She needed to quiet the children.” Quite: adverb, truly or considerably “I am quite certain I know the answer to 15.” Quit: Verb, to stop “I need to quit talking to him.”

Allot/A Lot Allot: To divide or assign “I allotted 10 Reese’s Pieces to each of my friends.” A Lot: a large quantity of something “I have a lot of Reese’s Pieces to give away.”

Councilor/Counselor/Council/Counsel Councilor: a person on a council “The councilor had many big decisions to make that day.” Counselor: someone who gives advice “I saw my counselor, and she said I should think about being a doctor someday.” Council: a committee that is elected to lead “The council had a big vote coming up.” Counsel: Advice “The counsel I’d give you would be to stay away from him.”

Descent/Decent/Descend Descent: Noun, To go downwards. “We started our descent from the top of the building to the first floor.” Decent: civilized, good “He’s a decent person.” Descend: Verb, to go downwards “We descended five flights of stairs.”

Principal/Principle Principal: main or a leader of a school “Our principal complaint is that the food is disgusting.” “The principal congratulated us for our good grades.” Principle: rules, beliefs, or way of acting “I have strong principles that guide my decisions.”