List Of The 100 Most Commonly Confused Homophones

What are homophones? Homo means ‘same’ and phone stands for ‘sound’ in Greek. Thus, two words which have different meaning and spelling but have the same pronunciation are homophones. Now you may think, why you should know about homophones? As we know, it’s normal to make mistakes while writing English. And for the same, we have various grammar correction tools or apps. But what if those tools are not detecting the homophone you used instead of the right word in your piece! There is no surprise in it because that’s what happens. And, unfortunately, there is no app or tool which can detect the homophone used incorrectly.

So be it you’re writing or you are reading, a homophone used incorrectly can cause a disaster. And because it’s not possible to go through all existing 7000+ homophones altogether. That’s why we have curated a list of the 100 most commonly confused homophones which will definitely have your back. 

But how to memorize the difference between the two still is a question. Such as moose and mousse both will sound the same to you, but ‘moose’ is a member of the deer family, and ‘mousse‘ is a dessert. Trust me a bit of imagination can work fine in this case. So, first, know the meaning of both the words and second, picture to make a difference between both. And hence using the same method you can easily go through the 100 most commonly confused homophones provided here in the list below. 

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The 100 most commonly confused homophones:

Few words with which we are very well familiar, are easy to distinguish from their homophones such as, then and then, your and you’re, one and won, and so on. Similarly, fair means just and fare stands for a fee would have confused you many times. In the same way, capital means funds and capital means government building. Let’s see more below:

1. Affect/Effect
2. Advice/Advise
3. Then/Than
4. Here/Hear
5. Accept/Except
6. Whether/Weather
7. You’re/Your
8. Bear/Bare
9. One/Won
10. Compliment/Complement
11. Aloud/Allowed
12. Lie/Lay
13. Its/It’s
14. Principal/Principle
15. Brake/Break
16. Lose/Loose
17. Week/Weak
18. Pray/Prey
19. Their/There/They’re
20. Sole/Soul
21. Altar/Alter
22. Cite/Site/Sight
23. Flower/Flour
24. Cereal/Serial
25. Meat/Meet
26. See/Sea
27. Knight/Night
28. Know/No
29. To/Two/Too
30. Hair/Hare
31. Whose/Who’s
32. Hole/Whole
33. Desert/Dessert
34. Knot/Not
35. Waste/Waist
36. Plane/Plain
37. Tide/Tied
38. Way/Weigh
39. Capital/Capitol
40. Steal/Steel
41. Addition/Edition
42. Mail/Male
43. Ant/Aunt
44. Wring/Ring
45. In/Inn
46. Pair/Pear
47. Buy/By/Bye
48. Bored/Board
49. Coarse/Course
50. Peace/Piece
51. Knead/Need
52. Role/Roll
53. None/Nun
54. Scene/Seen
55. Stair/Stare
56. Tail/Tale
57. Fair/Fare
58. Led/Lead
59. Maid/Made
60. Throw/Through
61. Sent/Scent/Cent
62. Beat/Beet
63. Aisle/isle/I’ll
64. Berth/Birth
65. Choral/Coral
66. Dual/Duel
67. Idle/Idol
68. Knew/New
69. Leak/Leek
70. Cast/Caste
71. Cell/Sell
72. Beat/Beet
73. Cellar/Seller
74. Ball/Bawl
75. Ad/Add
76. Billed/Build
77. Pain/Pane
78. Heal/Heel
79. Die/Dye
80. Hall/Haul
81. Tea/Tee
82. Doe/Dough
83. Quite/Quiet
84. Heard/Herd
85. Dyeing/Dying
86. Hall/Haul
87. Council/Counsel
88. Waive/Wave
89. Current/Currant
90. Martial/Marshal
91. Moose/Mousse
92. Descent/Dissent
93. Throne/Thrown
94. Fir/Fur
95. Cash/Cache
96. Berry/Bury 
97. Base/Bass
98. Censor/Sensor
99. Merry/Marry
100. Real/Reel

Which homophone do you get confused with most of the time?

After discovering most of the homophones, I realized that these words are quite interesting instead of confusing. Though, now I use them as much as I can in my writing. I still find myself making silly mistakes. There are times when I get confused with merry and marry. Similarly, Whether and weather make me look like a fool. I understand going through this list might feel like going back in time but isn’t it what we all want sometimes.

I’m sure if you have gone through the 100 most commonly confused homophones listed above. You’d have found the homophones you get confused with most of the time. If so, then don’t mind sharing those silly mistakes you have made. And if not then also you can share some interesting homophones you know. I hope these 100 homophones enlisted above would help you to avoid that embarrassment, which you might have been facing while misplacing some of these words.

Happy Reading!