Confusing Words

There are words in English with same, or similar, spellings, but are pronounced differently and have different meanings. The following list of such words along with examples will help you understand the difference between such similar looking words.

 

Verb

Example

 

Noun/ adjective

Example

Perfect

[perFECT]
  1. He wants to perfect his English.
  2. Tendulkar has perfected his batting over the years.

 

Perfect

[PERfect]
  1. My teacher’s English is perfect.
  2. Tendulkar is a perfect batsman. His batting technique is perfect.

Record
  1. I recorded my voice on a tape.
  2. He owns a sound recording company.
  1. This instrument can record even the slightest change in temperature.

 

Record
  1. He made a record in athletics.
  2. He holds the record for the fastest man in the world.

Estimate

[estiMATE]
  1. I estimate that they should arrive here at 5:00.
  2. I had estimated that it would take us about a week to finish this job.

 

Estimate

[EStimate]
  1. What’s your estimate on repair of this machine?
  2. My estimate was wrong. The bicycle was more expensive than I thought.
  3. Your estimate was perfect. They arrived at exactly 5:00.

Present

[preSENT]
  1. A trophy was presented to the winning team.
  2. When will you present your report?

 

Present

[PREsent]
  1. He’s not present here.
  2. She gave me a nice present.

Object

[obJECT]
  1. I’d like to open the window, if no one objects.
  2. The students objected that their teacher was going too fast.

 

Object

[OBject]
  1. They saw an unidentified object in space.
  2. Physics deals with physical objects.

Subject

[subJECT]

(to bring under firm control)
  1. Hitler wanted to subject other countries to his rule.

 

Subject

[SUBject]
  1. Physics is my favorite subject.
  2. She will speak up on the subject of poverty.
  3. The price of this product is subject to change

Frequent

[freQUENT]

(to be often in a place, esp. a place of entertainment)
  1. Police visited all the bars that the suspect frequented.
  2. They used to frequent the Nawaz Sharif Park.

 

Frequent

[FREquent]
  1. Floods are frequent in this part of the world.
  2. He’s a frequent visitor to my house.

Intimate

[intiMATE]

(make known indirectly; suggest; imply)
  1. He intimated that he wanted to go.
  2. We haven’t been intimated about the department’s decision.

 

Intimate

[INtimate]
  1. They are intimate friends.
  2. The relation between them is an intimate one.