Commonly confused words

chlorine vs chloride

Chlorine is the element — a toxic yellow-green gas. Chloride is what chlorine becomes when it gains an electro...

choose vs chose

Choose is the present tense and rhymes with news: "I choose to walk", "choose a seat". Chose is its past tense...

chord vs cord

A chord is several musical notes sounded together, or in geometry a straight line joining two points on a curv...

chorizo vs sausage

Sausage is the category; chorizo is a pork sausage seasoned with paprika, which gives it its red colour. The c...

chose vs chosen

Chose is the plain past tense and works on its own: "I chose the red one". Chosen is the past participle and n...

cisgender vs transgender

Both describe the relationship between a person's gender identity and the sex they were assigned at birth. Cis...

cite vs site

To cite is to quote a source or refer to it formally. A site is a place — a building site, a website. Sight, t...

civic vs civil

<em>Civic</em> relates to a town or city and to the role of being a citizen: "the civic centre", "a strong sen...

classic vs classical

Classic means of enduring quality, or typical of its kind — a classic novel, a classic mistake. Classical rela...

climactic vs climatic

Climactic relates to a climax — the climactic scene of a film. Climatic relates to climate — climatic conditio...

climate vs weather

Weather is what the atmosphere is doing over hours or days in one place — "the weather turned wet by Thursday"...

clockwise vs counterclockwise

Clockwise is the direction a clock's hands move — from 12 to 3 to 6 to 9. Counterclockwise is the opposite. Br...

clothes vs clothing

Clothes is a plural noun with no singular — you cannot say "a clothe". Clothing is uncountable and treats the...

coarse vs course

Coarse means rough in texture or crude in manner — coarse sand, coarse language. Course covers a route, a seri...

colander vs sieve

A colander has large holes and is for draining — pasta, vegetables, anything where you want the water gone qui...

colleague vs college

A colleague is a person you work with: "I asked a colleague to cover my shift." A college is an institution wh...

colleague vs coworker

Coworker simply means someone who works at the same place as you, whatever they do. Colleague carries a hint o...

color vs colour

There is no difference in meaning — only in country. Color is the American spelling ("the color of the sky");...

colored vs coloured

They are the same word with two spellings: colored is standard in the United States, coloured in Britain, Irel...

command vs comment

A command is an order, or an instruction given to a computer. A comment is a remark or opinion. <em>The genera...

compassion vs sympathy

Sympathy is feeling sorry for someone else's suffering and acknowledging it — "she sent a card expressing her...

compete vs complete

Compete is to take part in a contest or rivalry — <em>compete in the final</em>. Complete is to finish, or as...

complement vs compliment

A "compliment" (with an I) is a nice thing you say to someone — praise. A "complement" (with an E) is somethin...

complement vs supplement

A complement completes something, or improves it by pairing well — the wine complements the fish. A supplement...