Style books often contain lists of words that are commonly misspelled or misunderstood. Many of these words form pairs, some with opposite or similar-sounding partners, others with a similar (or identical: ‘rowing’ and ‘rowing’) spelling but different meanings. I will not repeat here, except for a few hardy perennials, what is amply and expertly explained in other works. Buy a dictionary of about 1000 A5 pages or so (and use it) and consult Gowers revised Greenbaum & Whitcut (1986) and Fowler revised Gowers (1968).

What follows is in two lists: misused common words, then often misunderstood more technical terms (usually with longer explanations). The technical terms are also listed without details in the first list.

Many well-educated people would consider a lot of the distinctions that follow in the first list to be mere pedant-fodder – they are – but some impede understanding, and these are certainly worth noting. Remember, too, that a characteristic of good scientific style is that it causes no distractions. Why annoy even a few of your readers when you could easily avoid doing so?