Practice makes perfect — or is it practise makes perfect?

Earnsy Liu | October 21, 2020

Do you confuse practice with practise? Do you know the difference between continual and continuous? Do you sometimes use completely different words so your confusion doesn’t show? Perhaps you say ‘impact’, because you’re not sure if it should be ‘affect’ or ‘effect’.

Image, black and white photo of a toddler with their hands covering their face

Some words are just confusing!

There, there, don’t blush! We all get confused (yes, even people at Write — we’re human!). Sometimes words sound the same or similar. Sometimes people around us use the wrong words, and it rubs off on us. Sometimes no one explained the difference when we were learning those words. Whatever the reason, we need to use the right words if we want to communicate effectively.

To help you tell tricky words apart, we’ve explained 10 pairs of commonly confused words.

We haven’t used complicated grammar rules, promise! We’ve used plain language and included a few memory tips. To make things fun and memorable, we’ve also illustrated each word.

What other words at work do you find confusing? We welcome additions to the list!
enquiries@write.co.nz

Download and keep our explanations of Commonly confused words

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Spot the difference between practice and practise

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