Words spell checkers can’t catch
“Their going to loose there way” contains no misspellings (every word exists) yet it’s wrong four times. Homophones and near-homophones are among the most common errors in published writing because a spell checker can’t see them.
The checker works in two passes:
- Likely mistakes: patterns that are almost always wrong, such as “their is”, “your welcome”, “its a”, “could of”, “alot”, “more then”, “loose weight”. These get a one-click fix.
- Words to double-check: every occurrence of a word from about 75 confusable groups (affect/effect, complement/compliment, principal/principle, stationary/stationery, discreet/discrete, ensure/insure/assure, farther/further…), each with a short definition of every option so you can confirm the right one.
Very common words like to, too, here, hear, know and no are left out by default to avoid noise; switch them on for a thorough final pass.
Quick memory aids
- Affect is usually the verb (A for action); effect usually the noun.
- Its is possessive like his; it’s always means “it is” or “it has”.
- Complement completes; a compliment is praise.
- Stationery: e for envelope.
Worked example
Here is what the Confused Words Checker returns for its built-in example. Settings used: Also flag very common words (to/too, here/hear…): off. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
In order to succeed, the report was written by the team in a timely manner. It is important to note that the results were very, very good.
Basically, at the end of the day, we really need to think outside the box and leverage our synergy. Their is a lot of work to do, and the the deadline is close.
The chairman said that you guys should of known better. Its a fact that the data was analysed carefully and the color of the charts was chosen for clarity.| Found | Type | Suggestion |
|---|---|---|
| “Their” | Likely mistake | There |
| “a lot” | Check the meaning | allot |
| “should of” | Likely mistake | should have |
| “Its” | Likely mistake | It’s |
Questions
What is the difference between affect and effect?
Usually “affect” is a verb (to influence) and “effect” is a noun (a result). “Effect” can also be a verb meaning to bring about, as in “effect change”.
Why does it flag correct words?
Words in the “double-check” group are flagged every time so you can confirm the meaning; they are not necessarily wrong. Likely mistakes are shown separately.
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