There are countless confusing pairs in English that it is very easy to mistake one for the other. Here I list a few that I encountered recently.
wreck and wrack
wreck: a vehicle or ship that has been destroyed or badly damaged
wrack: 1 : ruin, destruction. 2 : a remnant of something destroyed.
These two words can be verb or noun; they look a like, with similar meanings. However, the two are used in different circumstances. When associated with “ship”, it’s usually wreck, such as ship wreck, or a wrecked ship. Wreck means damage beyond repair, while wrack is to execute certain vengeance. When it is associated with brain, it is something like “I wracked my mind”.
risible and irascible
risible: such as to provoke laughter. This word, despite the appearance, has nothing to do with “rise”.
irascible: having or showing a tendency to be easily angered.
martinet and matinee
martinet: a strict disciplinarian, especially in the armed forces
matinee: a performance in a theater or a showing of a movie that takes place in the daytime.
I’ve never seen martinet being used, but I’ve seen matinee several times– when people come to New York for a visit, they will want to choose a Broadway show to watch and sometimes it is a matinee.
vindicate and vindictive
vindicate: clear (someone) of blame or suspicion.
vindictive: having or showing a strong or unreasoning desire for revenge.
insolent and insolvent
insolent: showing a rude and arrogant lack of respect.
insolvent: unable to pay debts owed.
gregarious and gangrene
gregarious: (of a person) fond of company; sociable.
gangrene: localized death and decomposition of body tissue, resulting from either obstructed circulation or bacterial infection
Haoyan Do 
Aw, this was an incredibly nice post. Finding the time and actual effort to produce a really good article… but what can I say… I hesitate a whole lot and don’t manage to get anything done.
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I used to hate words like these because I found them very confusing but now I find them quite interesting.
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Tell me about it. I used to write each pair out, but to no avail. There’s no help. The confusion just continues as strongly as ever. LOL. It’s almost like a hopeless relationship–it doesn’t matter how hard you work on the relationship, it’s like beating a dead horse.
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Loved wreck and wrack. Never heard of wrack actually, so thank you. Or maybe I did, but I always thought it was racked. And I have always found gregarious to be a mouthful that I hardly say it.
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Wrack is just another way of spell rack, isn’t it? At least that’s my understanding.
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That’s really interesting!
Thank you for sharing 🙏
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Thank you for visiting and commenting.
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When you actually see gangrene, you never forget the word. Trust me on this
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Oh, that’s true, though I hope I will never have the chance.
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I hope not either!
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😜🤣😊👍
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I’ve bookmarked this so I never forget those words. The monkey picture is the best one you could use for this post 😂
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LOL. I agree that the monkeys are most suitable for a language post. LOL. Yes, some pairs are so confusing that no matter how many times I try to clarify my mind, it keeps going confused. LOL.
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Good job on the list and the definitions. I also had never seen that painting before and wound up going on a rabbit trail looking up the artist.
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Thank you for the praise. 😊😍 Yes, love the monkey picture and the monkeys do ask scholarly questions and give scholarly answers.
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That is a list that you HAVE to send to every politician you know!
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LOL. The monkey picture is funny, isn’t it? Or are you talk about “wreck” and “wrack”? LOL.
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Haha this post is kinda quirky and informative at the same time!!
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The picture made me laugh haha.
Thanks for sharing this. Very informative post 🙂
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LOL. I am glad you like it. Yes, the picture is cute and fortunately it is from the 19th century and there’s no copy rights issues. I always have to be very careful with that.
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It looks like you have the hang of it. A lot of native English speakers couldn’t make the distinction between a lot of those words. The truth is most of us gave up years ago.
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LOL. I have improved, haven’t I? Thank you for pointing that out. “most of us gave up years ago.” That is so funny. 😂🤣🤣
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