Homophones & Confusables

These words sound alike but do different work in a sentence. Learn each pair with a test you can apply in one second.

1. True homophones. their (belonging to them) / there (in that place) / they're (they are); its (belonging to it) / it's (it is); principal (the head, or main) / principle (a rule); stationary (not moving) / stationery (paper and pens).
2. Near-homophones. accept (to receive) / except (leaving out); affect (a verb, to influence) / effect (a noun, the result); advice (noun) / advise (verb); device (noun) / devise (verb).
3. Confusables by meaning. lose (to misplace) / loose (not tight); quiet (silent) / quite (fairly); later (afterwards) / latter (the second of two); compliment (praise) / complement (that which completes).
4. The apostrophe rule that decides most of them. An apostrophe marks a missing letter, never possession in a pronoun. its, hers, ours, theirs and yours have no apostrophe at all.

The single most common mistake is its versus it's, and it has a one-second cure: expand the word to "it is" and read the sentence. "The dog wagged it is tail" is nonsense, so the correct form is its.

For principal and principle a similar hook works: the principal is your pal, the head of the college, and can be a person; a principle is only ever a rule and can never refer to a human being.

it's = it is (expand and test); its = belonging to it · pronouns never take an apostrophe for possession · principal = person or main, principle = rule · stationery has an e as in envelope · advice/device are nouns, advise/devise are verbs

Fill in the blank: "The college ____ addressed the students on discipline." Options: principle / principal / principals / principled. → principal. Only "principal" can name a person; "principle" is a rule and can never address anybody. Sanity check: replace the blank with "head" — "The college head addressed the students" reads correctly, which confirms that a person, not a rule, is wanted here.