The English language has many confusing words because of all of those homonyms and synonyms (don’t even get me started on homographs, homophones, and heteronyms), but in this post we’ll consider only five.
- Clenched and Clinched
Clench—to hold tightly
Susan’s clenched teeth signaled an aversion to large, metal objects.
Clinch—to confirm or settle
Anna’s goal in the first two minutes of the soccer game clinched the championship.
- Verses and Versus
Verses—the plural form of verse.
The choir sang all four verses of It is Well With My Soul.
Versus—against.
Today’s game will be the Steelers versus the Ravens. Go Steelers!
- Complement and Compliment
Complement—something added for completion.
Kevin insists bacon is a great complement to peanut butter.
Compliment—an approval
Because of his kindness toward the refugees, the press gave the governor many compliments.
- Affect and Effect
Affect—to impress or to change (usually used as a verb)
Heavy holiday traffic affects our drive from the airport.
Effect—the result (usually used as a noun)
Peace is one of the many effects of prayer.
- Lie and Lay
Lie—to recline
I’ll lie down for a nap about 2:00 this afternoon.
Lay—to place
Lay the baby in the crib for his nap.
We’ll tackle more confusing word pairs next time.
3 replies on “Five Confusing Word Pairs”
Thank you. This is very helpful. I will remember Lie and lay Lie has an” I” so does recline. Lay has an “a” so does place.
Great way to remember, Cherrilynn! Thank you for stopping by!
Still clenching my teeth around large, metal objects!