42 Confusing English Words in 45 Minutes | English Vocabulary

I heard the noise.

I listened to the noise.

Do you like your job?

Do you like your work?

There are many confusing words in  English that students use incorrectly.

Let's fix that today.

Today you'll learn how to use these 42  confusing but very common English words.

Welcome back to JForrest English.

Of course, I'm Jennifer.

Now let's get started.

First, let's review 21 confusing English verbs.

First, let's talk about hear and listen.

And let's review all of these as a quiz.

Here's the question.

I couldn't the speaker because of the loud noise.

Do you need hear or listen?

I couldn't hear the speaker  because of the loud noise.

Can you hear me?

Here is your ability to perceive sound naturally.

So it's one of your senses.

This is a passive activity.

It doesn't require conscious effort.

You could say.

Did you hear that car alarm at 2?

AMI didn't want to, but because I have ears,  

I heard it at the beginning of  a presentation or a phone call.

You can say, can you hear me?

Can you hear me OK?

How's your ability to perceive me now?

You could also say, did you hear?

Did you hear that?

Jennifer is hosting a live lesson next week.

Notice here it's to hear information.

Did you hear Jennifer is hosting?

That's the information.

Now in this case, it's one's awareness or  knowledge of news, information or rumors.

And this is usually learned passively.

Let's discuss.

Listen, this is when you  actively pay attention to sound.

So it requires your effort and intention.

So if I ask you, are you listening to me?

Yes, you can hear my words, but  are you concentrating on them?

Are you listening to me?

So this is very different from Can you hear me?

Or you could say I always listen  to classical music while I work.

So it's your choice.

You're actively listening.

Are you listening?

I'm listening now as a challenge, I want you to  create one sentence using these confusing words,  

and you can do this for each sent that we review.

So can you think of one sentence  that contains both hear and listen?

Here's mine.

Share yours in the comments.

I can hear music in the background,  but I'm not listening to it.

So my ears can perceive the sound, but  I'm not actively paying attention to it.

I'm not listening to it.

Don't worry about taking these notes because  I summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the description.

Now let's review, say and tell as a quiz.

Can you me what happened at the meeting?

Which one do you need?

Can you tell me?

Tell me what happened at the meeting.

Tell requires a person as the object.

So the fact that the quiz question had me,  

that is all you need to know to  choose tell tell me what happened.

You should tell your boss someone else.

You should tell your boss that you need a day off.

You should tell her say does not  require a person as the object.

What did you say?

If you use an object you need the  preposition to what did you say to her?

To your boss?

Or you could say she said we should work late.

Now here we is not the object,  we is the subject of the clause.

We should work late.

This is what she said.

She said we should work late so you  cannot say She said me to go home.

She said I should go home  or she told me to go home.

Well boss told me to go home.

Also.

Remember, say emphasizes what is being expressed.

Tell emphasizes the person  receiving the information  

and also you tell the truth and you tell lies.

So with these two words, specifically  truth and lies, you use tell.

That's the correct choice.

Now it's time for your challenge.

Write one sentence that uses both say and tell.

Was that easier, difficult for you?

Here's mine.

She sent that.

She always tells the truth,  so she always tells the truth.

This is what she said.

Now let's review, speak and talk.

Here's your question.

She 3 languages fluently.

This is easy for you, right?

She speaks, of course.

She speaks 3 languages fluently.

Did you conjugate that verb?

All of these are verbs, so you  need to conjugate them as well.

Just like tell is the correct  choice with truth and lies,  

speak is a correct choice with languages.

You speak a language, you improve  your speaking skills, right?

Speak to me.

What if I said let's speak about this  later, let's talk about this later?

Both of these are grammatically correct.

Speak is more formal and is  often used in presentations.

For example, she spoke about  the importance of adopting AI.

This sounds like she gave a speech or  she gave a presentation on this topic.

She spoke in a formal context, so you might  ask who's speaking at the conference next week.

You wouldn't say who's talking.

Talk is used in casual conversations.

He talked about the importance of adopting AI.

The same sentence in this case, we're using talk.

So this could be at a meeting  or just in casual conversation.

You could ask someone, can  we talk about this later?

Can we talk?

Can you write a sentence using both?

Here's mine, we talked about  how she speaks 5 languages.

How did you do with this one?

Are you enjoying this lesson?

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Now let's continue with our lesson.

Now let's review, see, look and want.

Do these confuse you?

How about this question?

I always TV after dinner.

I always watch TV after dinner.

Always is an adverb of frequency.

So the present simple see, this is passive,  

just like here, see, this is one  of your senses, so it's passive.

It involves perceiving things naturally.

I can't see without my glasses.

So it's your sense of sight.

I can't see.

Or did you see that bird?

You could say no, but I heard it.

Your ability to hear, your ability to see.

Now look, this is focused effort to  direct your eyes at something specific.

You need to look at your audience  when you're speaking because if  

it's an audience, it sounds like it's more formal.

That's why I used speaking.

Don't just look at your notes, look  at your audience conscious effort.

Look at me now watch.

This is when you continuously look at  something and something that changes or moves.

For example, you need to watch the kids closely.

So continuously look at them with focused effort.

And the kids are moving around now  because of of that explanation.

This is why we use it with movies, TV shows.

What did you watch last night?

I watched TVA movie or one  of Jennifer's YouTube videos.

Watch me.

How about this one?

Do you want to see a movie or a show this weekend?

This is very commonly used by natives.

Keep in mind that the focus is on attending.

Do you want to go to a movie?

Also keep in mind this isn't used with TV so you  wouldn't say do you want to see TV this weekend?

So now that you know the difference,  

it's time for your challenge and you need  to write one sentence with all three.

See, look and watch.

Can you think of one?

This might be a little more difficult,  take your time, but here is mine.

He looked at the painting so conscious effort,  

then saw the artist watching  him from across the room.

Ah, he saw the artist.

So he perceived with his eyes he saw the artist.

And what was the artist doing?

The artist was watching him so  continuously looking at him.

That was difficult for me  to think of that sentence.

So don't worry if it takes you time.

Let's move on to bring and take.

Here's your question.

I'm in the living room.

Can you need some water?

Which one do you need?

Can you bring me some water?

Bring.

This is movement toward the person.

The water is moving toward me.

The person who asked, Hey man, can  you bring me a sparkling water?

Take is movement away from the person.

For example, in a restaurant, a server, a waiter,  

waitress could come to you and say,  can I take those dishes for you?

Now the server used take because the  dishes are moving away from the person.

The person being the customer,  I will take the free food.

This is why you can't say can you take those files  here because here means movement toward a point.

Can you bring your files here because  the files are moving toward a point.

Same thing with don't forget to bring  your passport to the airport because  

the movement of the passport  is going toward the airport.

Now share your challenge sentence in the comments.

Again, this wasn't easy for me.

I had time to think of these.

Here's mine.

Could you bring the documents to my office  and then take these files back to yours?

Because the documents are moving toward me, but  then these documents are moving away from me.

Let's review fit and suit.

Here's your question.

Do you think this color me?

Do you think this color suits me?

Suits me?

Fit is the correct size or shape.

You could say this jacket doesn't fit me,  it's too tight, you need a larger jacket.

Or you could say this jacket fits  perfectly, it's the correct size and shape.

Or there's no way that box will fit in the trunk.

The size of the trunk is too  small for the size of the box.

It's not going to fit.

Suit is about complementary style or appearance,  

so if something is complementary,  it means it goes well together.

You could say living downtown really suits her.

She loves the hustle and bustle.

Do you know what that is?

Hustle and bustle.

It's the busyness, the chaos, the noise.

But she loves it.

So that's why living downtown compliments her.

It goes well with her personality.

It suits her.

You can use this negatively and say  living in a small town didn't suit her.

Didn't because it's in the past.

She already moved to the city, you could put  in the present simple and say doesn't suit her.

Stop, it doesn't suit you.

Now we use this with physical things,  clothes, jewelry, makeup, hairstyles.

For example, having a mustache really suits him.

It goes well with his face or with his style.

Now it's time for your challenge sentence.

Here's mine.

This jacket fits perfectly  but I don't think it suits me.

So this means the size is correct  but the style isn't correct.

Now let's review, learn and teach.

I hear mistakes with these all the time.

Can you me how to use the present perfect?

This should be easy right?

Can you teach me?

Can you teach me?

First, let's talk about learn.

This means to acquire knowledge or skills.

Of course.

The mistake I hear is my students  say I'm learning this lesson.

This is incorrect.

You should say I'm studying this lesson or  I'm learning different phrases in this lesson.

So you're gaining a specific skill or knowledge.

The knowledge represents the phrases.

I'm learning phrases in this lesson because you're  not gaining skills of the lesson in general.

It's the information in the lesson.

That's why the sentence doesn't work.

Some learning TH of course, is to give  knowledge, give skills to someone else.

She taught me a lot, or you  could say I learned a lot.

Can you teach the new intern  how to file the reports?

So this isn't specific to a teacher.

I'm sure you teach your kids, your friends,  your coworkers things all the time.

Now it's challenge time.

Create one sentence using learn and teach.

This should be easy for you, hopefully.

Here's mine.

I'll teach you the basics of chess so  you can learn how to play on your own.

Learn how to play.

That's the skill or the  knowledge you're acquiring.

Now let's review, lend, and borrow.

I know this confuses a lot of students.

Can you me $200 until Friday?

Can you lend me?

Lend is to give something to someone temporarily.

For sentence structure.

You can use the model to lend  someone something I lent.

That's the past.

Simple.

I lent my brother someone, my car something.

You can also lend something to someone.

I lent my car to my brother.

Both of those are correct.

Larry LED Berry $5000 borrow is  to receive something temporarily.

Can I borrow this now for sentence structure.

You borrow something from someone.

I borrowed this car from my sister.

Can you borrow me some money  is not grammatically correct.

Can you lend me some money or  can I borrow some money from you?

Are you ready for your challenge?

Share your sentence below  using both lend and borrow.

Do you have one?

This was a fun one for me to write.

Here's mine.

You can borrow my clothes, but  there's no way I'm lending you my car.

And that's probably true.

Let's review, remember and remind.

Can you me to call the client at 3:00 PM?

Can you remind me to call the client?

Remember, this is when you  recall information yourself.

I just remembered.

I need to call the client at  3:00 PM or I need to remember  

to call the client at three PMI just remembered.

Remind is to make someone else remember something.

I reminded him to call the client  at 3:00 PM, but he still forgot.

He didn't remember.

Can you remind me when the meeting is?

This is the same as saying can you  help me remember this information?

Don't remind me.

Here's a great one.

I keep a big bottle of water in  front of my computer as a reminder.

A reminder is the noun form of the verb.

If you want to use the verb, you could say  the bottle reminds me to drink more water.

Now it's your turn to share one  example using remember and remind.

Take your time.

Remember.

I thought of these before this lesson.

Here's mine.

I rarely remember my appointments, so can you  please remind me to go to the dentist at noon?

Now let's review, wait, and stay.

You should.

At home today If you feel  sick, you should stay at home.

Stay at home today if you feel sick.

Wait means to pause or delay  until something happens.

For example, wait to buy the  computer until Cyber Monday.

This is the same as saying don't  buy the computer until Cyber Monday.

Or you can say I've been waiting for 20 minutes.

Do you know how long I've  been waiting for this moment?

Stay.

Think of this as to remain, to  remain in one place, location,  

stay in the restaurant, I'll get the car.

Or you could say wait until I get the car,  wait to leave the restaurant, wait for me.

Your final challenge?

Share one sentence with wait  and stay in the comments.

Do you have one?

Here's mine.

I'll wait for the package at the  office while you stay with the kids.

So stay, remain in one place.

Amazing job.

Now let's review 21 confusing English nouns.

First, let's review job and work.

And let's review these as a quiz.

Here's the question.

She applied for a new at the law firm a new job.

Did you get that?

I applied for a new job because job is a specific  position or employment where a person earns money.

Of course work though is about the  general effort, tasks or labor.

So not the actual position.

The tasks, for example, you  can say do you like your job.

This is asking about the specific position.

Now you can also say do you like your work,  and this is more focused on the tasks you do,  

but ultimately they're the same and a native  speaker would use them interchangeably.

However, you cannot say she got  a new work, She got a new work.

You can't say that.

You must say she got a new job.

Now this is because work is a collective noun.

So in the example sentence it use aw.

You can't use aw with work  because work is a collective noun.

So remember you would say I have so much work.

Work would stay as the singular  because it's a collective.

I have so much work to do.

Now remember work is also a verb to work.

So you could say right now I'm working  the verb in the present continuous.

I'm working two jobs, two jobs,  2 positions to make ends meet,  

which means to make enough money  to survive, I have to work.

So now I'll quiz you again.

He's looking for new, but  finding a good takes time.

What do you think?

He's looking for new work, because  remember, work is a collective noun,  

and collective nouns don't take articles.

So he's looking for a good job.

Don't worry about taking notes because I  summarize everything in a free lesson PDF.

You can find the link in the description.

Now let's talk about story and history.

I hear mistakes with these two all the time.

Here's your quiz.

The book is based on real,  not fiction, on real history.

This is history in the making.

So a story is a narrative.

It can be real or it can be fictional, not real,  and is told for entertainment or information.

Now history, this is a  factual record of past events.

So you could say the story about the company dates  back to 1920, dates back to means starts in 1920.

Now you could also say the history you would need  

the preposition of the history of  this company dates back to 1920.

So with the story of the company,  you're going to hear a story,  

characters, themes, but the history  is going to be the factual record.

You can say he told an amazing story about his  

trip to Africa and notice here you  tell a story that's the Co location.

You can also say we learned about  the history of the English language.

Today.

There are many different  verbs that go with history.

For example, you learn, read, discover,  discuss, debate, and many other choices.

How about this quiz question?

He told a funny, but it had  nothing to do with actual.

This one's easy, right?

He told a funny story.

It had nothing to do with actual history.

The record of past events number  three, wedding and marriage.

Do these confuse you?

How about this quiz question?

Were you invited to their to their wedding?

Because wedding is the event, we  are invited to Suki's wedding.

It's a ceremony where two people get married.

So it's an event.

It takes place on a specific  date and time location.

Marriage is the relationship between  two people after they're married.

So you can ask when is your wedding or when  was your wedding because it's in the past.

But you can't say when is or  was your marriage because it's  

not an event so there's no specific date of it.

If you want to ask a question like that,  

you actually have to change the structure  and say how long have you been married.

So to be married, this means  you're legally husband and wife.

Now you can say their wedding didn't last long.

So the actual ceremony where they exchange  rings was only 30 minutes, one hour.

Their wedding.

The event didn't last long.

You can also say their marriage didn't last long,  

but that means their relationship didn't  last long so they are no longer together.

How about this quiz question?

There was beautiful, but there  has been full of challenges.

Their wedding, the event was  beautiful, but their marriage,  

their relationship after the  wedding has been full of challenges.

Bad memories, bad marriage.

Let's talk about these two confusing nouns.

I'm not going to say them because the  main confusion is the pronunciation.

The Sahara is the largest in the world, so which  

11S or 2SS1S is desert, dry, arid land with  little rainfall, Which describes our quiz.

The other one with two s s is dessert,  a sweet dish eaten after a meal.

Of course you know that, so let's  focus on that pronunciation.

So one as dry, arid land, desert, desert.

So notice the syllable stress is on the  1st sound Dada desert and then 2S S sweets,  

chocolate dessert, dessert, dessert.

The syllable stress is on the  second syllable da da dessert.

So make sure you practice that pronunciation.

So let's practice this together Now after crossing  the desert, we enjoyed a delicious dessert.

Make sure you shadow my pronunciation.

Let us enjoy the wonderful desserts  #5 Let's talk about price and cost.

Here's your quiz question.

The of studying abroad is high when you factor  in tuition, housing, food and transportation.

Here, because of the context, we need cost.

The cost of everything is too high because price  is the amount of money needed to buy something.

So there's A tag or a  sticker, and it has the price.

Cost, on the other hand, is total.

So think of total expenses,  including hidden or indirect factors.

Now, in a store, you would absolutely  say how much does this cost?

But keep in mind that the word cost here  is a verb, and this lesson is about nouns.

That's going to cost a lot of money.

You would not say how much does this price  because price is a noun and not a verb.

You can absolutely say what is and then  the noun what is the price of the laptop.

Now you could also ask what is the  total cost of the laptop and many  

speakers will add the word total in front of cost.

So that means the price of the laptop, tax,  

warranty, accessories, anything else  that's included, that's the cost.

Now remember as a verb, you can  absolutely say the laptop costs $1200.

But remember, cost there is a verb.

Let's review these together as a quiz.

The of the car was low, but the long term  of insurance and maintenance is high.

The price of the car is low, but then  the total cost insurance, maintenance.

So the second one is cost number  six, chance and opportunity.

This job offer is a great for your career.

What do you need?

A great opportunity.

It's a great opportunity.

Chance is a possibility or  probability of something happening.

It sounds quite neutral, but opportunity, this  is a favorable situation for achieving something.

So the word opportunity sounds positive.

There is a 30% chance of rain tomorrow.

You wouldn't say opportunity.

You would use chance because  you're talking about probability.

Now you could also say there's  a chance of probability.

I could get the job.

Not the work, the job.

Now you can modify chance.

You can say slight, small or low,  

good, fair or moderate chance or  high, strong or excellent chance.

There's an excellent chance I'll get the job.

Now you can say I hope I get the job  because it's a great opportunity.

So to modify opportunity, we generally  use positive words such as great,  

amazing, excellent, perfect, or golden.

A golden opportunity.

How about this quiz?

This scholarship is a real and you  have no of winning the lottery.

You have no chance of winning the lottery.

So go for the scholarship  because it's a great opportunity.

Small chance, but a chance #7 loan and debt.

How about this?

We took out A to buy the car.

We took out a loan, got it covered.

I took a loan.

So a loan.

This is Money borrowed that must be repaid.

You can get this from a bank, a friend  or a family member or a private company.

Now debt.

This is the total amount of money owed.

You take out a loan.

That's the most common colocation.

You take out a loan.

You can also use get you get a loan, but  with debt, you simply have, you possess it.

You have debt.

Now why do you have debt?

Because you took out loans.

So they go together.

You can say I have so much debt.

Debt is a collective noun,  so notice no S and so much.

Or you can say I have so many  loans I need to repay this year.

Loan is a regular noun, so it's singular plural.

How about this quiz question?

The helped him buy the car, but  now he has to manage his the loan.

It's something the money you borrow the loan,  

but he has to manage his debt, the total amount  of money he owes and notice that pronunciation.

Did you notice the B was silent?

Debt, debt, debt.

I'm Dave in debt.

Now let's talk about these two again.

I will not say them because the confusion is  in their pronunciation and similar spellings.

So here's the quiz question.

Can you pick up my from the dry cleaners?

Can you pick up my suit?

Suit.

I'll go get my suit on.

This is a set of matching clothes.

It can also mean a legal case, but most  commonly it means a set of matching clothes.

But the other word is pronounced sweet suite.

This is a set of connected rooms,  

often in a hotel, but can also be in  an apartment complex or condo complex.

It can also be a collection of software, so you'll  probably hear that word with software as well.

So now let's focus on the  pronunciation with these examples.

He wore a Navy blue suit, so repeat out for me.

Oot oot suit suit.

He wore a Navy blue suit to  the interview our hotel suite.

It's the exact same as chocolate is suite.

The hotel suite had a beautiful ocean view.

How about this quiz?

Why are you wearing your NR?

What do you need for pronunciation?

Why are you wearing your suit in our suite?

Your suit in our suite?

That's one for you to practice and of  course, take it off and relax for a bit.

Wear on vacation.

Our next confusing pair.

Again, the confusion could be because of the  spelling and pronunciation, so I won't say them.

Here's the quiz.

Please keep your for reimbursement.

Please keep your receipt Receipt.

There is no P in the word receipt, no receipts.

This is a document that proves payment  so you get it when you buy something.

Now reimbursement means you give this receipt  

to your employer for the laptop  and they give you the money back.

That's reimbursement now recipe repeat  after me Recipe recipe, receipt, recipe.

So notice receipt.

You have the word seat in it.

Receipt, recipe recipe of course  is instructions for preparing food.

You can absolutely say I lost the receipt, but  make sure your pronunciation matches what you  

say because you can equally say I lost my  recipe, but the meaning is very different.

You can also say I need a  receipt or I need a recipe.

So grammatically, often both sentences are  correct, but the meaning is very different.

Let's try this quiz.

I kept the for the ingredients  and I followed the AH.

Did this confuse you?

You keep a receipt, the  receipt for the ingredients.

It shows you what ingredients you bought.

Maybe because it's for reimbursement and you  follow a recipe, you follow instructions,  

and a recipe provides instructions.

Did you get that one?

Did you follow the recipe #10  again, confusing spelling,  

confusing pronunciation,  totally different meanings.

I won't say them yet.

What can we do to improve  workplace workplace morale?

Morale, morale.

Watching the gossip and lifting  the morale in the house.

Now compare that to moral.

Moral.

The sound is less stressed.

I don't open my mouth as wide moral moral.

Now a moral is a lesson about right or wrong.

It's also standards of right or wrong.

So you can think of it as  ethical lessons or ethical codes.

It tells you how to behave.

Morale Repeat after me morale.

So notice that long ow morale.

Morale.

This is the level of confidence  or enthusiasm in a group.

It's very common in business.

You can think of it as the  team spirit or the team mood.

So the moral of the story, the lesson,  

the ethical lesson, the moral of  the story, which is very common.

The moral of the story is  to always tell the truth.

Or parents should teach  their children strong morals.

As a noun, you can have singular or plural morals.

How about this one?

Employee morale.

Remember, this is commonly  used in a business context.

It can also be used in a sports context.

Anything where teams are involved.

Employee morale improved, so the spirit, the  mood, the confidence of the group of the team.

Employee morale improved after the company gave  bonuses, or you could say after the CEO quit,  

the company's morale dropped to an all time low.

So the mood, the spirit, the  confidence of the team was low.

How about this quiz?

The leader's speech boosted the teams and taught  an important lesson about, well, the teams.

That tells you it would be morale.

Morale and taught a lesson moral so also look for  those keywords that tell you which one you need.

It's called the moral of the story #11  again, pronunciation and perhaps spelling.

So here's the quiz.

The of the apartment complex are very friendly.

The residents.

The residents.

This is people who live in a place.

But when you have an S on that noun meaning more  than one, it sounds exactly the same as residence.

Residence, which is a place where someone lives.

So the pronunciation is virtually identical when  

resident is in the plural form,  and it sounds like residence.

So this might be confusing in spoken English.

You can say his official  residence place where he lives.

His official residence is in New York.

You could also say residents of New  York, people who live in New York.

Residents of New York must pay a new tax.

Now you can use this in the singular and  there's less confusion with the pronunciation.

She's all resident in the new senior residence,  the place where seniors live or in the plural,  

where it sounds similar, identical their  residents in the new senior residents.

How about this quiz?

The new has space for 50.

The new residents place where  people live has space for 50 people,  

SO50 residents nasal residence.

Our final confusing pair weather and climate.

What's the like today?

The keyword is today.

So today we need weather because weather  

is for short term conditions in a  specific place at a specific time.

Climate is of course the longer term  conditions in a specific place and  

it's over a significant period of time, 30 years.

So you can of course ask what's  the weather like in Singapore.

If you ask that, you're basically  saying today or right now.

If you ask what's the climate like in  Singapore, you're going to get a different  

answer because that means in general,  not necessarily right now, in general.

So both are grammatically correct, but  the answer you receive will be different.

You know, you could say we had to  cancel the event because of the weather.

The event takes place on a specific day.

So it's not climate, it's weather.

But you can make a general statement  and say we have less outdoor events  

because of climate change,  because of climate change.

So that's talking about overall  and not necessarily now.

How about this quiz?

The in the mountains changes quickly, but  the is generally cold throughout the year.

Well, throughout the year tells me that you're  talking about climate and changing quickly.

Well, that tells me you're  talking about current conditions.

So weather, Hey John boy, how's the weather?

Think of everything you learned today.

There are many more confusing words in English.

If you want me to make another  lesson like this comment,  

let's go, let's go put, let's go in the comments.

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