commonly misused English words - K to L

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.

K to L

• lay (lay, laid, laid, laying) and lie (lie, lay, lain, lying) are often used synonymously. Lay is a transitive verb, meaning that it takes an object. "To lay something" means to place something. Lie, on the other hand, is intransitive and means to recline (and also to tell untruths, but in this case the verb is regular and causes no confusion). The distinction between these related verbs is further blurred by the fact that past tense of lie is lay. An easy rule of thumb is to replace the words with sit and set. If sit makes sense (e.g. sit down) then lie should be used (lie down). If the sentence works with set (e.g. set the book on the table) then lay should be used (lay the book on the table). To lie can also mean "to not tell the truth" - but in that case, the past tense is lied. A layoff is never a lieoff or lyoff.
  • Standard: I lay my husband's work clothes out for him every morning. Yesterday, I decided to see if he paid attention to what I was doing, so I laid out one white sock and one black. He did not notice!
  • Standard: You should not lie down right after eating a large meal. Yesterday, I lay on my bed for half an hour after dinner, and suffered indigestion as a result. My wife saw me lying there and made me get up; she told me that if I had waited for a couple of hours I could have lain down in perfect comfort.
  • Standard: You lied to me, there is no hidden chamber!
  • Non-standard: Is this bed comfortable when you lay on it? (Should be lie)
  • Non-standard: Yesterday I lied down in my office during the lunch hour. (Should be lay)
  • Non-standard: There was no reason for him to have laid down in the middle of the path, it unnerved me to see him laying there saying nothing. (Should be "have lain down" and "him lying there")
  • Non-standard: Lie the baby down, and change his diaper (Should be lay, as lie is intransitive)
  • Non-standard: "It could be easy for those guys to lay down. After I left, they could have just laid down."^[3]
  • Non-standard: I am going to lay out in the sun and work on my tan. (Should be lie. In general, the term lay out when referring to sunbathing is always non-standard usage.)
  • Non-standard: Sorry, I lay about our appointment yesterday. (Should be lied)
  • Non-standard: You should not lay down right after eating a large meal. Yesterday, I lied on my bed for half an hour after dinner, and suffered indigestion as a result. My wife saw me laying there and made me get up; she told me that if I had waited for a couple of hours I could have lied down in perfect comfort. (Should be lie, lay, lying and lain)

• levee and levy. A levee is a structure built along a river to raise the height of its banks, thereby preventing nearby land from flooding (see: dike). To levy is to impose (1) a tax, fine or other assessment, or (2) a military draft; as a noun, a levy is an assessment or army thus gathered. The two words share a common root, but they are not considered interchangeable in Standard English. Because they are homophones, misuse is usually only apparent when observed in writing.
  • Standard: The Netherlands is well known for its elaborate system of levees.
  • Standard: This statute allows the state to levy a 3% tax.
  • Non-standard: Recent storms have weakened the levy.

• literally.^[4] A term used to emphasize that a statement is not metaphorical, figurative or hyperbolic. It is also commonly misused as an intensifier for metaphorical, figurative or hyperbolic statements.
  • Standard: The mayor is literally a convicted felon.
  • Non-standard: The mayor is literally robbing us blind with this new tax.

• loathe and loath or loth: Loathe is a verb meaning "to strongly dislike", and loath or loth means "unwilling" or "reluctant".
  • Standard: I loathe arrogant people.
  • Standard: I was loath to concede defeat.
  • Standard: I was loth to submit to a body-cavity search until I saw who would be administering it.

• lose and loose. Lose can mean "fail to win", "misplace", or "cease to be in possession". Loose can mean the opposite of tight, or the opposite of tighten. Lose is often misspelled loose, likely because lose has an irregular rhyme for the way it is spelled: it is more common for words ending -ose to rhyme -əʊz, like nose, or rose, but lose rhymes -uːz, like news or confuse. This may cause poor spellers to guess the correct spelling should match another -uːz rhyming word like choose, although choose is itself also an exception to the regular rhyme for words ending -oose (typically such words, including loose, rhyme -uːs, like goose or caboose).
  • Standard: We cannot afford to lose customers to our competitors.
  • Standard: A screw is loose and I need a screwdriver to tighten it.
  • Non-standard: If the team cannot score any points, they will loose the game.