Name:

Commonly Confused Words Exercise Get your dictionary out

Choose one of the words in brackets to fill the gap.
1. Do you ......................... payment by credit card? (accept / except)
2. Everybody turned up at Fiona's party ....................... her ex-boyfriend. (accept /
except)
3 .What ......................... did the high altitude have on you? (affect / effect)
4. Did the high altitude ......................... you when you were in Quito? (affect / effect)
5. She gave me some excellent ......................... about my girlfriend. (advice / advise)
6.. I .................... you not to get involved in Sandra and Mike's problems. (advice /
advise)
7. We need to find something to ......................... the curtains. (complement / compliment)
8 .She got annoyed with me because I didn't ......................... her on her new hair style.
(complement / compliment)
9 .Don't tell anyone about my promotion. I want to be as ......................... about it as
possible. (discreet / discrete)
10. Catalan and Valencian are not ......................... languages. (discreet / discrete)
11. The weather forecast says that rain is ......................... . (eminent / imminent)
12. Professor Pachorro is very ....................... among brain surgeons. (eminent/
imminent)
13. I wanted to see the ......................... about Manet in the Prado gallery in Madrid.
(exhibition / expedition)
14. A recent Spanish ......................... to the Antarctic has been collecting data about
global warming. (exhibition / expedition)
15. The South Downs, a range of hills running across Sussex, are not
very ......................... (high / tall)
16 ..Tom Cruise is not ......................... . He's short. (high / tall)
17. This is an ......................... device for opening bottles. (ingenious / ingenuous)

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18. Your argument is ......................... . Just tell me why you are in favour of a
military solution. (irrelevant / irreverent)

Using Lay and Lie

1. Grandma ________________________ her spoon next to the stove. lays
2. Eddie is ________________________ on his bed. lies
3. Earlier today, Martha had ____________ her purse on the chair. laid
4. John and Dennis ___________ on the ground, looking at the stars. are lying
5. Kendra had _______________ on a raft in the pool all afternoon. lay
6. My dog _________ on the sofa when I leave the house. lie
7. Yesterday, Aldea _________________ her pencil on the book. laid
8. Do you see Jacob _________________ his baseball cap on the shelf? lay
Write the word capital or capitol in each blank to correctly complete the sentence.
1. The _________________ of New York State is Albany. capital
2. Mitchell's class walked through the lobby of the ________ on their field trip. capitol
4. The Preston family took a picture in front of the impressive______building. capital
5. When David grows up, he wants to work on _______________ Hill. Capitol
6. The news anchor is reporting outside of Connecticut State ___________. Capitol
7. What is the ______________________ of Australia? Capital
Write the word foreword or forward in each blank to correctly complete the sentence.
1. The ______ of the book revealed little-known facts about the author. foreword
2. The city is ready to move ____________ with the construction project. forward
3. “Don't skip the ______________________,” our teacher warned. “One of your test
questions will come directly from there.” foreword
4. I tapped the horse's sides with my heels, and the animal walked ______________.
forward
5. Even though the road ahead will be challenging, we are moving____________. forward
6. The _____________ is written by a leading biologist in the field. foreword