A spell checker only knows whether a word exists, not whether it’s the right one. These pairs account for a large share of the errors left in “proofread” text.
The big six
| Pair | Meaning | Memory trick |
|---|---|---|
| their / there / they’re | belonging to them / that place / they are | there contains here (a place) |
| its / it’s | belonging to it / it is, it has | its is like his, no apostrophe |
| your / you’re | belonging to you / you are | expand it: if “you are” works, use you’re |
| whose / who’s | belonging to whom / who is, who has | same test as above |
| then / than | at that time / in comparisons | than compares, then is time |
| affect / effect | verb: influence / noun: result | A for action (affect), E for end result (effect) |
Twenty more pairs
| Pair | Quick distinction |
|---|---|
| accept / except | receive / excluding |
| advice / advise | noun / verb |
| allude / elude | refer indirectly / escape |
| breath / breathe | noun / verb |
| capital / capitol | city, money / legislative building |
| cite / site / sight | quote / place / vision |
| complement / compliment | completes / praise |
| council / counsel | group / advice, lawyer |
| desert / dessert | dry land / sweet course (two s’s for two sweets) |
| discreet / discrete | tactful / separate |
| elicit / illicit | draw out / illegal |
| ensure / insure / assure | make certain / cover with insurance / promise someone |
| farther / further | physical distance / additional, figurative |
| lead / led | the metal; present tense / past tense |
| lose / loose | misplace, fail to win / not tight |
| passed / past | went by / earlier time, beyond |
| principal / principle | main; head teacher / a rule (a principle is a rule) |
| stationary / stationery | not moving / paper (e for envelope) |
| weather / whether | climate / if |
| compose / comprise | parts compose the whole / the whole comprises the parts |
Phrases that are always wrong
- could of, should of, would of → could have, should have, would have
- alot → a lot
- for all intensive purposes → for all intents and purposes
- supposably → supposedly
- irregardless → regardless (in formal writing)
Let a tool do the first pass
The Confused Words Checker flags every word from more than 70 confusable groups with definitions, and singles out patterns that are almost always wrong (“their is”, “your welcome”, “could of”) with one-click fixes. The Grammar Checker catches many more context errors. Then read the text aloud: your ear catches what your eye skips.
Sources
- Merriam-Webster Dictionary and Oxford English Dictionary usage notes.
- Garner, B. A. (2022). Garner’s Modern English Usage, 5th ed.