People mix up words all the time. It happens. Even when you're checking with a dictionary, even when you're sure the thesaurus hasn't led you astray. Sometimes it happens that you just don't know how to spell a thing, but you're just so sure you spelled it right, so you ignore the spellchecker. Sometimes the spellchecker can't help you because the word you wrote instead is still a valid word.
I know, it's the worst.
There are, of course, the most obvious ones. The ones everyone points out. To/too/two, their/there/they're, your/you're, etc. Here are some others that have come up in things I've read. (This is long, I'm sorry.)
breath/breathe, loath/loathe, wreath/wreathe, bath/bathe, etc.
These ones are unfortunately extremely common, so here's a tip for you: if you add an 'e' to the end, it becomes a verb. That's all you need to remember to get these right every time. Loath is an adjective, breath, wreath, and bath are all nouns, but if you add an 'e' to them, that final 'th' becomes a softer sound, and the word becomes a verb.
You don't "take a breathe of fresh air" or "breath heavily after exercise," friends. (And ouch, that was painful to write.)
would have vs. would of, and related
This one really grinds my gears. I keep seeing "would of," "could of," and "should of" in writing that's meant to be taken seriously (fiction, articles, what have you), and it annoys me because it's just wrong. It's people not knowing what contractions are, or that those specific phrases are contractions, at the very least.
What you want is would've, could've, and should've. They're pronounced just like the typo, but are grammatically correct.
peeked/peaked/piqued
He peeked around the corner.
His physical prowess peaked at twenty, and only went downhill from there. (or) The meter peaked at fifteen, far too close to the red for his liking.
His interest was piqued.
Peeked relates to looking. It's a tiny look. Just a peek.
Peaked relates to something spiking, like a mountain peak. The topmost point.
Piqued relates to irritation or excitement.
In the case of interest, which is where I keep seeing the wrong word ("his interest was peaked"), you're exciting someone's interest, not causing it to reach its topmost point, though I can at least understand the mix-up.
pore/pour
Pore means to read or study with steady attention, to ponder intently.
Pour is what you do when you dump stuff out of containers.
I would much rather see you pore over your documents than pour over them. That just sounds sticky.
wreak/wreck
Wreak means to execute (as in to carry out).
Wreck means to smash and break things.
You wreak havoc when you wreck my stuff.
elude/allude
Elude means to escape, evade.
Allude means to refer casually or indirectly.
He didn't come out and say it, exactly, but he alluded to the method that allowed him to elude the authorities for years.
phased/fazed
Phased refers to stages or states of being.
Fazed on the other hand means "disconcerted, worried, or disturbed."
The change of venue didn't faze her in the slightest. The change of phase did, though.
If someone is unflappable in the face of unusual happenings, they remain unfazed.
weary/wary
Weary means you're tired. Exhausted. Just DONE.
Wary means you're apprehensive, nervous, untrusting.
Picture yourself on a bus, standing next to a guy who just won't stop talking. If you're weary of him, you're tired of his yammering and wish he would shut up. If you're wary of him, you're afraid his constant chatter is hiding something ulterior, such as a distraction from pickpocketing or angling to get your phone number so he can try to talk you into a date.
due time/do time
Due time means eventually.
Do time, on the other hand, means going to prison.
You will do time all in due time, my criminal friend.
wander/wonder
Wander means to roam aimlessly.
Wonder means to think or speculate curiously, or be in awe of something.
If you wander too long, you might wonder where you are.
lightning/lightening
Lightning is electrical discharge from the sky.
Lightening means to grow lighter.
It's a one-letter difference that the spellcheck won't catch, so I'm not surprised this happens so much. Still jarring, though.
Like lightning.
couldn't care less/could care less
Here's the short of it: if you could care less, that means you do care a bit.
affect/effect
This one could really be its own entire post, but I'll give it the short treatment here.
Affect is a verb.
Effect is a noun.
(Except when they're not; that's why it could use a whole post.)
Affect is causing change, while effect is what happens when change is caused, to put it simplistically. To remember the most common uses, just remember that Affect is an Action. (They both begin with A.)
loose/lose
Loose means not secure, not tight.
Lose means to misplace or get rid of something.
If your laces are too loose, you might lose your shoes.
canon/cannon
Canon is what is standard or fundamental within a body of work (such as the canon works of a religion).
Cannon is a very big gun.
Another one-letter difference, and I see this a lot in fanfiction when people refer to what is canon (meaning what is considered standard or fundamental in the original work) and what is not.
Let's just say that if you have a headcannon, we're not talking about what you believe about that work.
And I'll just drop this link here.
awe/aww/awh
Awe is an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, fear, etc.
Aww is what you say when you see something cute.
Awh is an odd variant for aww I've only ever seen in fanfiction.
discreet/discrete
Discreet means not obvious, being circumspect, respecting privacy. It's where the word "discretion" comes from.
Discrete means separate and distinct.
If you aren't discreet in your dealings around cannibals, you might end up in discrete parts.
defuse/diffuse
Defuse means to remove the fuse (de-fuse) as of a bomb. To disarm something, like a bomb or a tense situation.
Diffuse means to spread out evenly.
If you aren't careful when you try to defuse a bomb, you may end up diffusing it instead.
shudder/shutter
Shudder means a convulsive movement, such as from cold or dread.
Shutter is the opaque, solid covering for a window or, sometimes, a door. It can also mean "to close up," as in those same solid coverings.
I shuddered when I closed the shutters over the window in preparation for the storm.
past/passed
This one's a tad trickier, because they're actually similar.
Passed is only ever used as the past tense form of the verb "to pass." I pass you now. I passed you a while ago.
Past, on the other hand, can mean a few things. It can reference time (before the present). It can also reference something spatial (run past something), and this is where it sounds very much like passed, unfortunately.
If you run past someone, you have passed them.
definitely/defiantly/definately
Definitely means certainly.
Defiantly means daringly or boldly in resistance.
Definately is just a typo. Your spellcheck will catch this if you haven't gummed it up with typos.
She definitely stood defiantly against typos like "definately."
bare/bear
Bare means exposed. Like naked.
Bear means to lift, hold up, or stand firm. It's also a furry woodland creature.
He couldn't bear to bare his soul to the shaved bruin. It was a bare bear, after all.
grisly/gristly/grizzly
Grisly means horrible, gruesome, grim.
Gristly means resembling or containing gristle, which is cartilage.
Grizzly means somewhat gray, or gray-haired (usually in the form of grizzled). It's also a furry woodland creature.
The grizzly bear came upon a grisly scene of carnage, thanks to his mate trying to cut up meat that was too gristly.
for all intents and/intensive
For all intents and purposes means, basically, "the same effect or result as something else."
For all intensive purposes just means that the purposes are intense.
free rein/free reign
Free rein means to let a horse have more control, to not pull back on the reins in order to direct them. This is the correct version.
Free reign sounds like it should be correct, given it relates to rulers, but it isn't. Kings don't have to ask if they're allowed to set the rules.
I know that was long, but hopefully it helped to demonstrate some of the word mix-ups in a way that will help anyone who struggles with them.
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Something to look out for when you’re doing your grammar proofread. Ctrl+F your document for “would”, “should”, and “could” separately to make sure there are no stray “of’s” lying around after them.
It’s a mistake I’ve seen a lot on Wattpad and one I’ve caught myself making because I usually say my sentence aloud in my head before I type it and “of” and “-ve”, the contraction version of “have”, sound so similar when being spoken.
Tl;dr
Writing Tip: Make sure you write Would’ve/ Would Have instead of Would Of
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A context where it's okay to combine "would of". Defend a hate victim with all my might? I would, of course. What you think is "would of" is a misspelling of WOULD'VE which is a short form of WOULD haVE. No "of" in would've. Or could've. Should've. Thanks.
