English words can be so confusing at times, so many common English words have been inappropriately used. 10 common misused words are provided.
- When you’re talking about a physical distance, you can say, “This is farther from that.”
- Further usually refers to a figurative distance, meaning “extra or more” as in the following sentence: “If you complain further, I’m going to stop this conversation and never return to it again.”
- Affect is usually a verb that means “to influence or change something.”
- Effect is usually a noun that refers to the result of such influence or change.
- The word famous usually refers to people who are known for their great deeds, like heroes.
- However, if you want to say “very famous,” you should never use infamous as it means “famous for a negative reason,” like bank robbers or other criminals.
- When something makes you feel bad or causes pain and suffering, it’s considered torturous.
- Tortuous means “full of twists, turns, or bends.” You can also use this word when talking about something too lengthy or complex.
- Although most people think that bemused means “to be amused calmly,” it’s not actually true. The real meaning of this word is “to be bewildered, puzzled, or confused.”
- So when you want to say that you’re having an enjoyable time, you should say that you’re amused.
- Despite what you might think, nauseous doesn’t mean feeling sick to your stomach. It really means “causing nausea, ” like when you’re speaking about something smelly, spoiled, or rotten.
- So if you feel unwell, you probably feel nauseated.
- When you leave your country to live in another one permanently, you emigrate.
- When you move to another country to permanently settle down there, you immigrate.
- Poisonous is used to refer to something that is toxic if you eat it.
- Venomous is used to refer to something that is toxic if it bites you.
9.
- If you use characters such as punctuation marks, numbers, letters, etc., you use emoticons to express your feelings or mood.
- Emojis are actual graphical expressions that can refer to anything, including faces, common objects, places, types of weather, animals, and so on.
- Flammable means “capable of being set on fire.”
- Inflammable means the same thing, so there’s no difference between these 2 words.
Which English words do you always confuse? Let’s continue the list together in the comments!