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These are words that are spelled correctly, but are not used in the correct context. The words normally sound exactly the same but have a different meaning. For example: Whether / Weather
Here / Hear
Were / Where / We're
There / Their / They're
Your / You're
What the words mean
The weather is awful outside – ‘weather’ is used to describe the outside environment I’m not sure whether to go college – ‘whether’ is used to signal uncertainty Come here I want to talk to you – ‘here’ is used as an order, you want the person to walk towards you so you can speak to them Come closer I cannot hear you – ‘hear’ is referring to your physical ability to listen to someone (hint, when you want to refer to something your ears can hear just add an h to ear) You were late this morning – ‘were’ is used to signal something that you have done previously Where were you? – ‘where’ is used to refer to a location We’re going to sack you – ‘we’re’ is a shortened way of saying ‘we are’
There / Their / They’re
There refers to a place, you would normally accompany the word with a gesture, indicating where there is. For example, ‘Look at that hill over there’ would be accompanied by a gesture from the speaker pointing to the hill. Their means of or belonging to them - ‘their house’ - or can be used as a third person singular, indefinite meaning ‘his’ or ‘her’ - ‘has anyone lost their keys?’. Some examples: ‘The school children were excited to be going to Bristol Zoo, as it was their first trip there.’ Here their refers to the ‘school children’, the trip belongs to them, it was ‘their first trip’. There refers to the zoo, rather than write, ‘it was their first trip to Bristol Zoo’, repeating ‘Bristol Zoo’ in the sentence. No gesture is required here as you know where there is. ‘Mr and Mrs Smith stood looking out of the window of their house.’ Here their refers to Mr and Mrs Smith, the house is theirs, it belongs to them. They’re is simply a shortened way of saying they are and should not be confused with their or there.
Your / You’re
Your indicates belonging: ‘your problem’, ‘she is your mum’, ‘you should watch your spelling’. You’re is simply ‘you are’ shortened: ‘you’re not going to get away with this’, ‘you’re improving your spelling’, ‘you’re going to avoid this mistake in future’. A simple test to make sure you don’t confuse the two is to read the sentence with and without the apostrophe. For example: Your personality.
You’re nice. So you can read the first example as either your or you are (you’re), ‘you are personality’ makes no sense, so ‘your personality’ must be correct. This is because a ‘personality’ is something that can belong to someone. The second example can be read as your or you are (you’re), ‘you are nice’ makes sense, but ‘your nice’ does not, ‘nice’ cannot belong to someone. In essays you should avoid using apostrophes ( ’ ), so in practice if you always write ‘you are’ rather than ‘you’re’ then you will avoid this mistake. If you do wish to use ‘you’re’ then make sure you always read it as ‘you are’ to ensure that you will spot occasions when it has been used inappropriately.
More words
adverse, 'unfavourable, bad', with averse, which means 'strongly disliking or opposed to', as in I am not averse to helping out. affect and effect: affect means 'make a difference to', whereas effect means 'a result' or 'bring about (a result)'. complement, 'a thing that enhances something by contributing extra features', with compliment, which means 'an expression of praise' or 'politely congratulate'. council, an administrative or advisory body, with counsel, advice or guidance. desert (a waterless area) with dessert (the sweet course)! loose with lose: as a verb loose means 'unfasten or set free', while lose means 'cease to have' or 'become unable to find'. principal, 'first in order of importance; main', with principle, which is a noun meaning chiefly 'a basis of a system of thought or belief'. Stationary and stationery: stationary is an adjective with the sense 'not moving or changing', whereas stationery is a noun meaning 'paper and other writing materials'. story and storey: a story is a tale or account, while a storey is a floor of a building. In North America the spelling story is sometimes used for storey. who's with whose; who's is a contraction of who is or who has, while whose is used in questions such as whose is this? and whose turn is it? ['More words' taken from Ask Oxford, click the link for a bigger list of confusing words]
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