commonly misused English words - B to D

List of commonly misused English words

This is a list of English words which are commonly misused. It is meant to include only words whose misuse is deprecated by most usage writers, editors, and other professional linguists of Standard English. It is possible that some of the meanings marked non-standard may pass into Standard English in the future, but at this time all of the following Non-standard phrases are likely to be marked as incorrect by English teachers or changed by editors if used in a work submitted for publication. Some of the examples are homonyms or pairs of similarly spelled words which are often confused.

B to D

• bifurcate. Bifurcate means to segregate or divide into two parts. Not as a stand-in for 'more than one.'

• cache and cachet. A cache (IPA: /kæʃ/) is a storage place from which items may be quickly retrieved. A cachet (IPA: /kæˈʃeɪ/) is a seal or mark, such as a wax seal on an envelope or a mark of authenticity on a product. Note that cachet is usually used figuratively to mean "marked by excellence, distinction or superiority".
  • Standard: The pirates buried a cache of jewels near the coast.
  • Standard: Living in New York City definitely has a certain cachet.
  • Non-standard: If your web browser is running slowly, try emptying the cachet.

• can't and cant. Can't is a contraction of cannot. Cant has a number of different meanings, including a slope or slant, or a kind of slang or jargon spoken by a particular group of people. "Canting arms" is a coat-of-arms that represents meaning of the bearer's surname.
  • Standard: I can't understand the dialogue in this book because it is written in cant.
  • Standard: Heralds do not pun; they cant.^[1]
  • Non-standard: I cant swim; I have never taken lessons.

• complementary and complimentary. Things or people that go together well are complementary (i.e., they complete each other), whereas complimentary refers to a bonus gift or giving someone praise.
  • Standard: Orange and blue are complementary colors.
  • Standard: This sales item comes with a complimentary gift.
  • Standard: Jane was very complimentary about your new home.

Similarly, a complement is an accessory, while a compliment is a statement of admiration.

• concession. A concession stand gets its name from the fact that the operator has typically been granted a contract known as a "concession" to operate the stand. It is non-standard to refer to the items sold at concession stands as "concessions."

• contiguous, continual, and continuous. Contiguous means "touching" or "adjoining in space"; continual means "repeated in rapid succession"; continuous means "uninterrupted" (in time or space).
  • Standard: Alaska is not one of the forty-eight contiguous states.
  • Standard: The field was surrounded by a continuous fence.
  • Standard: The continuous murmur of the stream.
  • Standard: His continual interruptions are very irritating.

• contingent and contingency. As a noun, a contingent is a representative group; a contingency is a possible event.
  • Standard: The explorers were prepared for every contingency.
  • Standard: He was a member of the California contingent at the convention.
  • Non-standard: He was greeted by a contingency from the school board.

• crotch and crutch. A crotch is an area where something branches or forks off in 2 directions, or the area on a person's body where the legs fork from the trunk (commonly interchanged with 'groin'). A crutch is a device that assists motion, especially one that sits under the armpit, or something that supports, often used negatively to indicate that it is not needed and causes an unhealthful dependency.

• diffuse and defuse. To diffuse is to disperse randomly, whereas to defuse is to remove the fuse from a bomb, or in general to render a situation less dangerous. Diffuse can also be used as an adjective, meaning "not concentrated".
  • Standard: The situation was defused when Sandy explained that he was gay, and had no interest in Frank's wife.
  • Standard: The smell of gasoline slowly diffused into the still air of the hall.
  • Standard: The spotlights were turned off, leaving the stage lit by the diffuse glow of the lanterns.

• dilemma which really means for one to be faced with a bifurcation in choice, and not simply a problem as is commonly alleged.

• disassemble and dissemble. To disassemble means "to dismantle" (e.g. to take a machine code program apart to see how it works); to dissemble means "to tell lies".

• disburse and disperse. Disburse means "to give out", especially money. Disperse means "to scatter".

• discreet and discrete. Discrete means "having separate parts", as opposed to contiguous. Discreet means "circumspect".

• disinterested and uninterested. To be disinterested in something means to not be biased about something (i.e. to have no personal stake in a particular side of an issue). To be uninterested means to not be interested in or intrigued by something.
  • Standard: As their good friend, I tried to mediate their argument in a disinterested manner so as not to anger either.
  • Standard: Though his initial reaction suggested otherwise, he maintains that he remains uninterested in the business proposition.
  • Non-standard: The key to attracting a member of the opposite sex is to balance between giving attention to him or her and appearing disinterested.

• dissect and bisect. Bisect means "to cut into two"; dissect means "to cut apart", both literally and figuratively. Disect is an archaic word meaning "to separate by cutting", but has not been in common use since the 17th century.
  • Standard: We dissected the eye of a bull in biology class today.
  • Standard: She dissected Smith's dissertation, pointing out scores of errors.
  • Standard: The Americas are bisected by the Panama canal.
  • Non-standard: We bisected the eye of a bull in biology class today.