This is a list of commonly confused homonyms including both homophones – words which have the same pronunciation – and homographs – words which are spelled the same.
allot: to distribute, allocate\n*a lot: much; many (a lot of)
allusion: indirect reference\n*elusion: evasion\n*elution: separation by washing\n*illusion: a distortion of sensory perception
bare: naked, exposed; very little (bare necessities)\n*bear: as a noun, a large mammal (e.g. American Black Bear); as a verb, to carry something ("to bear arms"), to endure ("I can't bear it"), or to give birth to (bear fruit)
boy: a male adolescent or child; an exclamation "oh boy"\n*buoy: (noun) a floating marker in the sea; (verb, often "buoy up") to keep afloat, to sustain or encourage (the soldiers were buoyed up by letters from home) (pronounced boy in the UK, but in the US is either homophonous with "boy" or pronounced with two syllables to rhyme with "chewy") \n*bhoy: a house servant for families in India (borrowed from the English word "boy")
bow: (rhymes with 'cow'): The front section of a ship or boat; a gesture made by bending forward at the waist\n*bough: (rhymes with 'cow') A tree branch, especially a large or main branch.\n*bow: (rhymes with 'go'): A weapon made of a curved stick whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows; a type of knot with two loops
bridal: pertaining to a bride (bridal gown, bridal suite)\n*bridle: (noun) part of a horse's tack around its neck and head; (verb) to appear offended or proud
capital: punishable by death (capital crime); upper-case letter; the principal town or city (Paris is the capital of France); wealth, money (capital gains tax), as an exclamation: "excellent"\n*Capitol: the home of the US Congress and some other legislatures
chord: group of musical notes; anything that can be "struck" (It struck a sensitive chord)\n*cord: rope; long electrical line; vertebral column\n*cored: having the inside cut out, like an apple\n*cawed: past tense of "to caw" - to make a raucous noise
choux (pronounced as shoe): plural of chou, as used in choux pastry\n*shoe: footwear\n*shoo: exclamation used for scaring things away
compliment: a praising or flattering remark given to someone; to give such a remark\n*complement: something that completes something else; to complete (something)
do: conduct or carry out something\n*do (to rhyme with doe) / doh: the first note of the solfege scale\n*doe: a deer (a female deer); also female of various other species (by extension)\n*d'oh: an annoyed grunt\n*dough: a moistened mass of flour used to make bread; slang term for money
effect: ramification: cause and effect; sound effect (as a noun); bring about (effect change) (as a verb)\n*affect: have an effect on; pretentiously display (affect a British accent); emotion (in psychology and psychiatry).
fa / fah: the fourth note of the solfege scale\n*far: distant (In non-rhotic dialects, these are homonyms.)
fairy: imaginary small person with special powers (often homophonous with "ferry" in the US)\n*ferry: boat for carrying people or vehicles short distances on water
faze: to temporarily stop or shock (It didn't even faze them)\n*phase: a stage through which one goes
flaw: defect (homonymous with floor in non-rhotic dialects)\n*floor: a level; lower surface of a room; the area of a legilsative building members speak from, so "to take/hold the floor"; to knock to the ground; to confound someone\n*flor: a yeasty growth that forms on sherry after fermentation.
formerly\n*formally (These are not homonyms to most speakers of English, but are homonyms in some non-rhotic dialects, including "Received Pronunciation".)
hair: an outgrowth of the epidermis in mammals (e.g. human facial hair); similar structures on plants\n*hare: (noun) a swift, long-eared mammal which, along with rabbits, forms the family Leporidae; (verb) to dash or sprint ("I hared around the kitchen")\n*Herr: the title meaning "Mr." for a man from Germany or Austria
hay: grass cut and dried for animal feed\n*hay: the choke of an artichoke\n*hey: an exclamation used to draw attention, "Hey! Over here!"; a greeting\n*hey or hay: a kind of country dance\n*heigh: in the phrase "heigh-ho" expressing weariness or disappointment\n*Hay: the surname of William Howard Hay, creator of the Hay diet; a place in New South Wales\n*Haye: a place in Cornwall\n*hei: as in hei-tiki
here: this place (opposed to there)\n*hear: sense with the ears; also in the phrase "Hear! Hear!" for strong agreement
high: opposite of low; elevated, far above the ground; under the influence of drugs\n*hi: a greeting; shortened from "high" as part of hi-fi or el-hi\n*hie: to speed or hurry somewhere, "hie thee to France"\n*hi or heigh: part of the phrase "hi-ho" in the song "Hi Ho Silver Lining", or "heigh-ho" in the movie lyric "heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work we go"\n*jai: as in jai alai
hoard: to accumulate and store up as much of something as one can\n*horde: large group of warriors, mob\n*hoared: old, mouldy, fusty\n*whored: past tense of "to whore" - to act as a prostitute
imminent\n*imanent (Some speakers (perhaps 10%) of USA-English also pronounce eminent like these two.)
its: belonging to it (analogous to my, your, his, her, our, their)\n*it's: contraction for "it is" (analogous to I'm, you're, he's, she's, we're, they're) or "it has" (analogous to I've, you've, he's, she's, we've, they've)
key: instrument used to open locks; a guide to symbols, especially on maps; the essential element "the key to his success"; a range of musical notes "try it in a lower key"; a button or lever on piano or computer keyboards\n*key: a low island or sandbank, the Florida Keys\n*quay: pronounced as key in the UK, as key, kay or kway in the US; a wharf, a structure built out into water for the ease of loading and unloading vessels\n*cay: a West Indian word for an island, as in the novel The Cay\n*ki: another name for the Hawai'ian plant ti
lam: US slang: "on the lam" means "on the run"\n*lamb: a young sheep
law: legal rule\n*lore: old story often not written down
lead: pronounced to rhyme with "seed", to guide or serve as the head of\n*lead: pronounced to rhyme with "head", a heavy metal\n*led: the past tense of "lead"\n*leed: a copper kettle; a cauldron\n*lede: the opening in a piece of journalist's copy (also spelled "lead")
lock: a mechanical device for securing doors or canals; also the act of using such a device (verb); a tuft of human hair\n*loch: a lake or bay, usually in Scotland or Ireland (Loch Ness)\n*Lok: alternative name for Loki, the Norse god of mischief\n*Locke: the surname of early liberal philosopher John Locke
mail: items sent through the postal service; armor\n*male: opposite of female
mantle: one of the layers of the Earth; a cloak (by metaphorical extension, special position or role held)\n*mantel: over the fireplace
medal: an award to be strung around the neck\n*meddle: stick one's nose into others' affairs\n*metal: shiny, malleable element or alloy like silver, gold, iron, zinc, tin, copper, bronze or brass \n*mettle: toughness, guts\n**Note that the first two of these are only homonyms of the second two in North American accents.
morning: the time between midnight and midday\n*mourning: period of grieving after the death of a relative, friend or public figure, clothing worn at this time (e.g. mourning dove)
muscle: one of the parts of the body used to move\n*mussel: a bivalve popular as seafood
past: time before now (past, present and future); beyond; after the hour (three past nine = 9:03); former (in her past life)\n*passed: past tense of "to pass"
parse: to break down into component parts (e.g. for analysis)\n*pars: the acts of scoring a par in golf; also plural of "par"\n*parrs: plural of "parr" - a young salmonidfish
piece: portion\n*peace: opposite of war; quietness (peace of mind) or silence (speak now or forever keep your peace)
peak: tip, height, to reach its highest point, a mountain\n*peek: to take a brief look, usually through a thin aperture (sneak peek)\n*pique: fit of anger; to incite (pique one's interest)
paw: a mammal's foot\n*poor: impoverished; also, to be pitied (Poor Peter!), also bad (poor quality)\n*pore: a hole in the skin; to go over with great focus (pore over)\n*pour: to run out (said of liquid); to rain heavily
principal: can be a noun or an adjective, a person of primary importance\n*principle: a noun: it cannot be an adjective, a fundamental rule or law
rack: a long, open container with a rectangular frame (spice rack); one's upper body; to torture (verb) or an instrument of torture (noun)\n*wrack: to destroy, a shipwreck, commonly found in the phrase "to go to wrack and ruin"\n**Note: In British English, only the first spelling should be used in the phrase "to rack one's brains"; in American English the second spelling is also acceptable in this context; the meaning of "rack" in this phrase is related to the rack as an instrument of torture
rain: water falling from the sky\n*reign: to rule; hold the position as monarch\n*rein: the strip used to control a horse; anything that restrains; to restrain anything by pulling in its irrational exuberance (pull the reins in on)\n*Rayne: a city in Louisiana
raise: to increase\n*raze: to destroy, to obliterate: "the town was razed to the ground by the fire"\n*rays: beams of light or energy (sun's rays, X-rays, gamma rays, etc.); cartilaginous fishes\n*Reyes: as in Point Reyes
ray: a beam of light\n*ray: a type of fish\n*ray / re: the second note of the solfege scale\n*re: with reference to\n*Re / Ra(h): an Egyptian god.\n*rah: a short form of "hurrah"
reek: to stink\n*wreak: to bring about (wreak havoc)\n*reak: a rush (plant), or a prank
rest: sit down without doing anything active; the remainder\n*wrest: to struggle to extricate something (wrest it out of his hands)
retch: to vomit\n*wretch: a person in a miserable condition; a person of bad character
right: the direction opposite to left; correct; something a person must have his/her choice to do respected (the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness); straight or directly (went right to his heart)\n*write: to put down in letters; send a letter to (Write me soon!)\n*rite: ritual, ceremony (rites of passage)\n*wright: connected with other words to mean someone who constructs (playwright, scenewright, wheelwright)
ring: piece of jewelry; make a sound like a bell or telephone, or tinnitus in the ears; anything shaped like a circle or torus (like the rings in a bathtub); sound familiarly like (that rings of fascism)\n*wring: strangle (wring his neck), squeeze and twist (wring the water out of laundry)
row (rhymes with "go"): to pull a boat through the water with oars\n*row (rhymes with "cow"): a fuss or a fight\n*roe: fish eggs (such as caviar); a deer (the roebuck)\n*Roe: pseudonym used in court cases for women having or seeking abortions (most famously in Roe v. Wade)\n*rho: letter of the Greek alphabet equivalent to R\n*Ro: a constructed language based on categorization
seem: appear to\n*seam: a join; a line of stitches that holds two pieces together
shear: trim, remove; strain\n*sheer: absolute, very steep; swerve
sight: vision\n*site: place, grounds; place in cyberspace\n*cite: quote or make a reference to; write a ticket
so: likewise; therefore; to such a degree\n*so or soh: the fifth note of the solfege scale\n*sow (pronounced as so): to scatter seeds\n*sew (pronounced as so): join together or stitch\n*sew (pronounced as sue): to drain (as the root of sewage) \n*Sioux (pronounced as sue): Native American tribe \n*sou (pronounced as sue): a French five-centime coin; any small amount of money\n*sous (pronounced as sue): French for under, as in sous-chef - a subordinate chef\n*sue: to prosecute or petition for\n*xu (pronounced as sue): a Vietnamese monetary unit, 1/100 of a dong\n*sow (to rhyme with cow): a female pig
some: a few\n*sum: what you get when you add numbers; short for summarize (sum up)
soul: spirit; mellow African-American music style\n*sole: single and only; the surface of the bottom of the foot; flat fish like flounder, petrale or halibut\n*Seoul: the capital of South Korea\n*Sol: the solar system we live in
tea: a tree and the drink produced from its leaves\n*tee: a support for the ball in golf\n*ti / te: the seventh note of the solfege scale \n*ti: a Polynesian tree similar to the taro
tear (rhymes with fear): a drop of fluid which falls from the eyes when weeping or crying\n*tear (rhymes with fare): rip; to run extremely fast, jolt, bolt, dart\n*tare: dry measure of grains; payment in wheat; adjustment to a weighing device\n*tier: layer or level
their: belonging to them\n*there: that place (opposed to here); also used to start sentences that denote indication of the existence of something (There is a casserole in the fridge; There were many problems with her To Kill a Mockingbird essay; There are no anarchists in the White House)\n*they're: contraction for "they are"
therefore: thus, ergo (I think therefore I am) \n*therefor: for the aforementioned thing or purpose; for that (similar to thereof, thereby, therefrom, thereagainst, etc.)
to: towards or headed for; in order to; used before the infinitive of verbs\n*too: also; excessively\n*two: the number 2\n*tui: the parson bird\n*tout: French word meaning "all", as in mange-tout
waste: to use up for something pointless; sewage (toxic waste)\n*waist: the line that goes across the middle of your body\n*weighest: archaic second person singular of the verb "to weigh" (thou weighest)
weather: the meteorological conditions; to survive some wear and tear\n*whether: if something is so or not\n*wether: a male sheep (The bellwether was the ram who led the herd, and carried a bell around his neck to signal the front of the herd coming.)
wet: to dampen; damp\n*whet: to sharpen (a knife, one's appetite)
whose: belonging to whom\n*who's: contraction for "who is" or "who has"
your: belonging to you (analogous to my, his, her, its, our, their)\n*you're: contraction for "you are" (analogous to I'm, he's, she's, it's, we're, they're)\n*yore: time long ago, a bygone age ("the days of yore")\n*yaw: swerve (usually of a ship or a spacecraft)
