We all have those words that stump us, and send us to the bookshelf after our dictionary. More often than not, there's not actually just one word that stumps us, but two. Word pairs are scattered liberally through the English language, hence the quite understandable resulting confusion.

There are a number of troublesome word pairs in English, some of which are actually triads rather than pairs. These are words whose meanings or spellings or phonology (or all three) are so similar that they are confusing and frequently misused. Some of them are homophones "One of two or more words, such as night and knight, that are pronounced the same but differ in meaning, origin, and sometimes spelling." Some are homonyms "One of two or more words that have the same sound and often the same spelling but differ in meaning, such as bank (embankment) and bank (place where money is kept). Many of them, technically, aren't either homophones or homonyms; they're simply similar enough in sound and meaning to be confusing.

Many of us keep lists of the confusing or difficult word pairs that trouble us the most. Some of these pairs—for instance, affect and effect, are frequently flagged by word processors. But, like so many issues with language, even word processor spelling and grammar checks miss many confusing word pairs. From time to time, I'll post a short explanation regarding a confusing word pair (or triad) with a goal of highlighting a way to keep them separate. That said, I'm personally resigned to having to keep a short list of Troubling Word Pairs, right next to my list of Words I Can't Spell.