Words That Look Alike

Because English has taken so many different words from so many different cultures over a long period of time, one often encounters pairs of words which are confusing because they are close in spelling and/or pronunciation. In this exercise you can learn some of the most common such words. Choose the best word for each blank.

adverse / averse
1. When I suggested that he buy a cheaper car, he was averse  to accepting my advice.
2. It’s difficult to study under adverse conditions.

affect / effect
3. A good teacher can  affect you in many different, beneficial ways.
4. A good politician can effect improvement in economic conditions.

aggravate / annoy
5. Her angry words aggravated an already difficult situation.
6. Her angry words annoyed me very much.

allusion / illusion
7. It was clear from his speech that he suffers from many illusions.
8. In his speech, he made many allusions to the social problems of the distant past.

complement / compliment
9. That soccer team wins often because the players all complement each other.
10. One secret to success in life is to frequently compliment people around you.

capital / capitol
11. Cairo is the capital of Egypt.
12. The capitol in Washington is modeled on Greek and Roman architecture.

discreet / discrete
13. Learning English involves several discrete areas of study.
14. Politicians try to be very discreet in their public remarks.

disinterested / uninterested
15. I couldn’t understand why they were uninterested in my exciting experiment.
16. Journalists attempt to be disinterested at all times.

emigrate / immigrate
17. She immigrated to America last year.
18. He emigrated from Gabon last year.

elicit / illicit
19. All right, I’ll try again to elicit a confession from the thief.
20. Illicit goods cross many international borders every day.

denote / connote
21. In English cultures, red connotes danger or anger.
22. "Red" denotes a color at the lower end of the
visible spectrum.

farther / further
23. They live farther from downtown than I do.
24. If you hope to solve this problem, you’ll have to study it further.

historic / historical
25. Historical trends in economic development provide keys to understanding the present.
26. Neil Armstrong’s first step on the moon was a historic event.

imply / infer
27. By studying the evidence, we can infer that dinosaurs once walked the earth.
28. The evidence implies that dinosaurs once walked the earth.

adapt / adopt
29. They want to adopt a child.
30. When you come to a new country, you have to adapt to the culture.

incredible / incredulous
31. His amazing and funny story was, unfortunately, incredible.
32. I was incredulous when I heard his amazing and funny story.

include / comprise
33. A book comprises paper, ink, and ideas.
34. A book sometimes includes pictures.

ingenious / ingenuous
35. Edison was an extremely ingenious inventor.
36. His sweetly ingenuous reply convinced me of his innocence.

insidious / invidious
37. Television advertising is often highly insidious.
38. The president’s opponent made an invidious speech last night.

literally / figuratively
39. Millions of human beings are literally starving today.
40. Figuratively, children who receive inadequate schooling starve intellectually.

oral / verbal
41. TOEFL is a test of several types of verbal skills.
42. TOEFL is not a test of oral skill.

prevaricate / procrastinate
43. If you make a habit of procrastinating , you’ll never get your work finished.
44. If you make a habit of prevaricating , you’ll never have any real friends.

pestilence / petulance
45. AIDS is the great pestilence.
46. Her frequent petulance is a result of immaturity.

prostrate / prostate
47. Worshippers in some religions must prostrate themselves daily.
48. Older men frequently have prostate problems.

qualitative / quantitative
49. Qualitatively , there is a big difference between a Volkswagen and a Mercedes.
50. The quantitative relationship between education and income is indisputable.


Give yourself 2 points for each correct answer.


Maximum Score: 100.

Your Score: ______


BONUS!!!
Improve your score! Give yourself 5 points for each one of these you get correct:
imminent / eminent / immanent
Some thinkers believe that, because of computers, a revolution in human consciousness is imminent.
A deist is a person who believes that God is immanent.
Madonna is famous; Einstein was both famous and eminent.

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