Confusing words – part 5

Contents
1. ACIEVE / PERCEIVE / CONCEIVE_____________________________________ 2
2. AFTER / AFTERWARDS ____________________________________________ 2
3. ALLUSION / ILLUSION _____________________________________________ 2
4. ANGEL / ANGLE __________________________________________________ 2
5. ATTEND / ATTEMPT / INTEND _______________________________________ 2
6. BALD / BALLED /BAWLED __________________________________________ 2
7. BEAT / WIN _____________________________________________________ 3
8. BOUGH / BOW ___________________________________________________ 3
9. CARE ABOUT / CARE FOR __________________________________________ 3
10. CEREAL / SERIAL ________________________________________________ 3
11. CLASSIC / CLASSICAL ____________________________________________ 3
12. COMPARE WITH / COMPARE TO _____________________________________ 3
13. CONTINUALLY / CONTINUOUSLY ____________________________________ 3
14. CRITIC / CRITICAL _______________________________________________ 4
15. DEFINITE / DEFINITIVE ___________________________________________ 4
16. DISCREET / DISCRETE ____________________________________________ 4
17. EFFECTIVE / EFFICIENT ___________________________________________ 4
18. EMPLOYEE / EMPLOYER ___________________________________________ 4
19. FAMOUS / INFAMOUS _____________________________________________ 4
20. FEMALE / FEMININE ______________________________________________ 5
21. FORMALLY / FORMERLY ___________________________________________ 5
22. HAVEN / HEAVEN ________________________________________________ 5
23. HORSE / HOARSE ________________________________________________ 5
24. IN TO / INTO ___________________________________________________ 5
25. ISOLATED / INSULATED ___________________________________________ 5
26. LEAD / LED _____________________________________________________ 5
27. LUXURIANT / LUXURIOUS _________________________________________ 5
28. MEAT / MEET ___________________________________________________ 6
29. NOBODY / NOTHING / NOWHERE ___________________________________ 6
30. OLDER ELDER ___________________________________________________ 6
31. PACKAGE / PACKET ______________________________________________ 6
32. POLITIC / POLITICS ______________________________________________ 6
33. PRAY / PREY ____________________________________________________ 6
34. RAIN / REIN / REIGN _____________________________________________ 6
35. REMEMBER / REMIND _____________________________________________ 7
36. SCENERY / VIEW ________________________________________________ 7
37. SHADE / SHADOW _______________________________________________ 7
38. STAIR / STARE __________________________________________________ 7
39. WAIT / WEIGHT _________________________________________________ 7
40. WIDELY / WIDESPREAD ___________________________________________ 7
Choose the correct word from the following pairs:

1. ACIEVE / PERCEIVE / CONCEIVE

1. I think my uncle still ____________ of me as a four-year-old.
2. I’ve been working all day, but I feel as if I’ve ____________ nothing.
3. I ____________ a note of unhappiness in her voice.
4. I find it hard to ____________ that people are still treated so badly.
5. He ____________ himself to be a failure, though nothing could be further
from the truth.
6. He has already ____________ his main ambition in life - to be wealthy.

2. AFTER / AFTERWARDS
1. Let’s go and see a film and _____________ we could go for a meal.
2. I didn’t see her again until a few days _____________.
3. She is leaving the school _____________ 20 years as head teacher.
4. This message arrived _____________ everyone had gone home.

3. ALLUSION / ILLUSION
1. The film is full of ____________ to Hitchcock.
2. A large mirror in a room can create the ____________ of space.
3. Robert's remark was a clear ____________ to my unsuccessful attempt at
writing a book. And it wasn't very nice.
4. Bob's hope of winning the main prize is just an ____________. His chances
are really low.

4. ANGEL / ANGLE
1. She prayed to the holy _________ for strength.
2. The interior _________ of a square are right _________ or _________ of
90 degrees.
3. Try looking at the problem from another _________, my _________.
4. He’s no _________, but he can’t be blamed for everything that has happened.

5. ATTEND / ATTEMPT / INTEND

1. Now that you’ve admitted your mistake, what do you ____________ to do
about it?
2. They will ____________ to rescue the climbers when the weather clears.
3. I wasn’t able to ____________ the meeting, because I was too busy to leave
my job.
4. The story was ____________ to be funny, but in fact nobody laughed.
5. ____________ the church is a must for religious people.
6. The athlete ____________ to break the world record, but he failed.

6. BALD / BALLED /BAWLED

1. He’s overweight and _________, and yet somehow, he’s incredibly attractive.
2. She _________ her fists so her nails dug into her palms.

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3. She _________ at me to sit down.
4. When he took off his hat, we saw that he was as _________ as a coot.
5. Tom _________ his colleagues out in the meeting yesterday.
6. He _________ the paper into a wad and threw it in the bin.

7. BEAT / WIN
1. No matter who ________ the war, there will be heavy casualties on both
sides.
2. She ________ the poor horse, but it couldn’t go any faster.
3. I’m not very good at chess. He always ________ me.
4. I have never ________ any money on the lottery.

8. BOUGH / BOW
1. He expects me to ________ down to him and do everything he tells me.
2. The ________ of a tree spreads its yellow branches against a green
background.
3. She’ll ________ out at the end of the month, after hosting the programme for
eight years.
4. He quickly picked an apple from the ________ of the tree.

9. CARE ABOUT / CARE FOR

1. What do you _____________ him?
2. I really _____________ you and I want to marry you.
3. She spends her free time _____________ old people.
4. No one seemed to _____________ her feelings.
5. Would you _____________ a hot drink?

10. CEREAL / SERIAL

1. I hate it when _________ goes all soggy, so I try to eat it up quickly.
2. She is currently filming a _________ drama for the BBC.
3. He had difficulty in remembering the _________ order of the tasks.
4. Drought has stunted the growth of his year’s _________ crop.

11. CLASSIC / CLASSICAL

1. Do you prefer ____________ music like Mozart and Bach, or pop?
2. The show is a ____________ example of TV made for children.
3. She was wearing a ____________ dark blue skirt.
4. I love the ____________ lines of her dress designs.

12. COMPARE WITH / COMPARE TO

1. That book is awful ___________ _____ the last one I read.
2. I always ___________ you _______ my brother, you’re both so alike.
3. The results are then ___________ _____ the results of previous studies.
4. How does life in Britain ___________ _____ life in the States?

13. CONTINUAL / CONTINUOUS

1. There is a _____________ humming of bees outside my window.
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2. I’ve had _____________ problems with this car ever since I bought it.
3. My computer makes a _____________ low buzzing noise.
4. In the end, it was the _____________ drinking that destroyed him.

14. CRITIC / CRITICAL

1. She is very ___________ of the way we bring up our children.
2. Her ___________ say she is leading the party to disaster.
3. The play has been well received by the ___________.
4. He left a case containing ___________ documents on the train.

15. DEFINITE / DEFINITIVE

1. There are no _____________ solutions to this problem.
2. There’s a _____________ family likeness around her eyes.
3. Let’s make the 9th a _____________ - we’ll have dinner and then go to the
movies.
4. He has written the _____________ guide to Thailand.

16. DISCREET / DISCRETE

1. The family made ___________ enquiries about his back ground.
2. These small companies now have their own ___________ identity.
3. They are very good assistants, very ___________ - they wouldn’t go talking
to the press.
4. Computers treat time as a series of ___________ moments rather than a
continuous flow.

17. EFFECTIVE / EFFICIENT

1. His efforts to improve the school have been very ____________.
2. She’s the most ____________ secretary I’ve ever had. She does everything
perfectly.
3. Yoga is a very ____________ technique for combating stress.
4. Bicycles are a cheap and ____________ form of transport.

18. EMPLOYEE / EMPLOYER

1. All the ____________ have asked for more money but I don’t think the boss
will give it to them.
2. The unions are negotiating with the ____________ to get higher wages for
the workers.
3. If any ____________ needs to take time off, he should contact the Personnel
Department.
4. I’m very lucky - I love my job and Geoff really is the ideal ____________.

19. FAMOUS / INFAMOUS

1. The list included the ___________ George Drake, a double murderer.
2. Who’s the most ___________ person you’ve ever interviewed on TV?
3. Scotland is ___________ for its spectacular countryside.
4. He’s ___________ for his bigoted sense of humour.

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20. FEMALE / FEMININE
1. The ___________ of the species is very aggressive.
2. The house was decorated in a very ___________ manner.
3. The question '___________ or male' means 'are you a woman or a man'.
4. He's an excellent boss with a ___________ intuition.

21. FORMALLY / FORMERLY

1. The position of our ___________ illegal workers has now been regularized.
2. The deal will be ___________ announced on Tuesday.
3. He was ___________ dressed in a grey suit.
4. The building was ___________ used as a bank, but is now being turned into a
bar.

22. HAVEN / HEAVEN

1. They wanted to provide safe _________ for the refugees.
2. I just lay in the sun for a week and did nothing - it was _________.
3. He’ll move _________ and earth to get it done on time.
4. The garden was a _________ from the noise and bustle of the city.

23. HORSE / HOARSE

1. My _________ is a bit timid and is easily frightened by traffic.
2. The jockey went _________ telling the _________ to giddy up.
3. This came straight from the _________’s mouth.
4. You’ll make yourself _________ if you keep shouting like that!

24. IN TO / INTO
1. When he saw the children fighting, he just dived ________ sort it out.
2. She turned everything she touched ________ gold.
3. The administrators wouldn’t give ________ the demands of the protesters.
4. As a child, I was too afraid to go ________ the Halloween haunted house.

25. ISOLATED / INSULATED

1. The infected patients were ____________ immediately.
2. Your drink stays hot for hours in this ____________ bottle.
3. A high wall ____________ the house from the rest of the village.
4. Children should be ____________ from the horrors of war.

26. LEAD / LED

1. What _______ you to make such a drastic decision?
2. Pencils do not contain real _______ nowadays.
3. She was suffering from _______ poisoning.
4. She took the child by the hand and _______ him upstairs to bed.

27. LUXURIANT / LUXURIOUS

1. I’ve always wanted to drive big ____________ cars.
2. Her ____________ hair fell around her shoulders.
3. We’ve bought a wonderfully ____________ carpet for our bedroom.

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4. We spent a ____________ weekend at a country hotel.

28. MEAT / MEET

1. Teachers have a lot to do, but time spent in the classroom is the ________
and potatoes of the profession.
2. The butcher went to ________ the farmer to order his ________.
3. If you ________ with any difficulties, just let me know.
4. John and Ann ________ in the supermarket to buy ________.
5. We haven’t yet been able to find a house that ________ our needs.

29. NOBODY / NOTHING / NOWHERE

1. __________ ever goes to see her. She’s very lonely.
2. You usually have to wait for a long time. __________ happens quickly.
3. There was __________ to park the car.
4. __________ does the article mention the names of the people involved.
5. Is there __________ here who can answer my question?
6. There’s __________ in the drawer - I took everything out.

30. OLDER ELDER

1. He had an ________ sister, Hannah who was born in 1838.
2. Mary is ________ than the blonde girl over there in the corner.
3. Tom had a fight with his ________ brother.
4. ________ people are less prone to an itchy scalp than young children.

31. PACKAGE / PACKET

1. The courier has just delivered a __________ for you.
2. Don’t forget to buy 2 __________ of biscuits.
3. He wrote the number on the back of a cigarette __________.
4. Tom opened the brown paper wrapped __________ slowly, and undid the
tape on a box inside of it.

32. POLITIC / POLITICS

1. You’re right and my articulation of what I wanted to say was not
___________.
2. She’s not interested in ___________. She never votes in the elections.
3. Her ___________ have become more liberal over the past few years.
4. It was not ___________ to ask any more questions at that point.

33. PRAY / PREY

1. I’ll _______ for good weather for tomorrows’ game.
2. The hawk hovered in the air before swooping on its _______.
3. _______ tell your sister that I long to see her.
4. Homeless young people are easy _______ for drug-dealers and pimps.

34. RAIN / REIN / REIGN

1. Queen Victoria __________ over Britain from 1837 to 1901.
2. You’ll have to stay I at playtime today, because it’s __________.

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3. I always put my son on __________ when we go shopping.
4. The jockey decided not to ride in the __________ in case the horse’s
__________ became slippery.
5. The bomb attacks produced a panic which __________ over the city.

35. REMEMBER / REMIND

1. She ____________ seeing him leave an hour ago.
2. I need the notes to ____________ me what to say.
3. That song always ____________ me of our holiday in Mexico.
4. I ____________ that I was really nervous on my first day at school.

36. SCENERY / VIEW

1. They stopped at the top of the hill to admire the ___________.
2. The cloud lifted, and the tops of the mountains suddenly came into
___________.
3. This postcard doesn’t do justice to the wonderful ___________.
4. The ___________ from the top of the mountain is breathtaking.

37. SHADE / SHADOW

1. Would you like to eat in the sun or in the __________?
2. The __________ of the trees slowly move across the lawn.
3. Our dog like to chase its own __________.
4. It’s much too hot. Let’s go and sit in the __________ for a while.

38. STAIR / STARE

1. The top ________ creaked as she went upstairs and the noise woke up her
mother.
2. Don’t ________ at people like that, it’s rude.
3. She gave him a long ________ but didn’t answer his question.
4. He climbed the wooden ________ and knocked on his grandfather’s door.

39. WAIT / WEIGHT

1. Her experience does give her opinions quite a bit of _________.
2. We had a three-hour _________ before we could see the doctor.
3. The dieter decided to _________ a couple of weeks before checking to see if
she had lost any _________.
4. The teacher made us _________ behind after class.
5. It was a _________ of my mind knowing that our finances were taken care of.

40. WIDELY / WIDESPREAD

1. Prices vary _____________ from shop to shop.
2. There are reports of _____________ flooding in northern France.
3. The incident has been _____________ reported in the press.
4. The next 36 hours will be even colder with snow showers becoming more
_____________.

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Key
1 2 3 4 5 6
1 conceives achieved perceive conceive perceives achieved
2 afterwards afterwards after after
3 allusions illusion allusion illusion
4 angel angles, angle, angel angel
angles,
angles
5 intend attempt attend intended Attending attempted
6 bald balled bawled bald bawled balled
7 wins beat beats won
8 bow bough bow bough
9 care about care for caring for care about care for
10 cereal serial serial cereal
11 classical classic classic classical
12 compared compare compared compare
to you with to with
13 continuous continual continuous continual
14 critical critics critics critical
15 definitive definite definite definitive
16 discreet discrete discreet discrete
17 effective efficient effective efficient
18 employees employers employee employer
19 infamous famous famous infamous
20 female feminine female feminine
21 formerly formally formally formerly
22 havens heaven heaven haven
23 horse hoarse, horse hoarse
horse
24 in to into in to into
25 isolated insulated isolated insulated
26 led lead lead led
27 luxurious luxuriant luxuriant luxurious
28 meat meet, meat meet meet, meat meets
29 Nobody Nothing nowhere Nowhere nobody nothing
30 elder older elder Older
31 package packets packet package
32 politic politics politics politic
33 pray prey Pray prey
34 reigned raining reins rain, rein reigned
35 remembers remind reminds remember
36 scenery view scenery view
37 shade shadows shadow shade
38 stair stare stare stair
39 weight wait wait, weight wait weight
40 widely widespread widely widespread

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