It’s easy to make mistakes if you speak English. From mispronouncing common words that come up in conversation (we’re looking at you, mischievous) to misspelling words you’ve been using for years, mastering English can sometimes feel like a perpetual uphill climb.
Another common error that many of us are guilty of is misusing words. By thinking they mean one thing when they mean another, you might be guilty of saying even commonplace words or phrases wrong.
English speakers on Reddit discussed the most common words they hear people frequently misuse that have become “major pet peeves,” or simply made them face-palm when they hear them used incorrectly.
These are 20 of the most commonly misused English words:
Words people get wrong constantly
“I hear people mix up weary and wary pretty often, I’ve even heard it in audiobooks which should be checked for errors.” – missuseme
“Apart vs. a part. I love this error because it totally changes the meaning of what the person is trying to say, and it’s usually in self-congratulatory posts like ‘I’m happy to announce I was apart of the team that did this amazing thing.’ Cool, happy to hear you had no part in it.” – BWEJ, figuren9ne
“Into vs in to. One is a transformation. One is moving locations. ‘A wanted man turned himself into police’ is saying he transformed himself into being a police officer. ‘A wanted man turned himself in to police’ he physically went to the police to surrender. ‘The arrest & charge turned him into a suspect, which the police explained as they escorted him in to the jail cell.’” – Mayflie
“Peaked my interest. [Correct: ‘piqued my interest’.]” – WonderfulKwanga
“A mute point, when the word is ‘moot‘.” – Dry-Adhesiveness-282
“‘That doesn’t phase me.’ Faze. The word is faze.” – makeshiftforklift
“As a mechanic, Brake/break.” – T_Rey1799
“Loose/lose.” – HorsedickGoldstein
“Irregardless, instead of regardless.” – Dry-Adhesiveness-282
More words that trip people up
“People think mortified means terrified. It actually means embarrassed. Major pet peeve of mine.” – xdonutx
“pov (point of view). It means that, in the case of photos and videos something is in first person. Rule of thumb: if you are in the video, the video is not your pov and what you are doing is not ‘pov [what you are doing]’, but the pov is observing you doing what you are doing. a third person perspective.” – AgarwaenCran
“Using SEGWAY, which is a brand of motorized people movers, instead of SEGUE.” – TheLimitDoesExist
“Beg the question. It refers to the logical fallacy where you assume the conclusion in the premise. Modern usage mostly uses it as ‘prompts the question’ or ‘demands the question be asked’.” – trashpandorasbox
“‘One bad apple’ now means it’s okay to have a bad apple because they’re the only one. The rest of the phrase is the opposite; it’s not okay to have one bad apple because they ‘spoil the bunch’.” – gingerlemon
“‘Gaslight’. Someone simply lying to you about what happened isn’t gaslighting, people. It’s just lying. Even if they’re trying to convince you that you’re imagining something or remembering it wrong, it’s still not gaslighting.” – froction
The most nitpicky pet peeves yet
“Saying ‘conversate’ instead of ‘converse’ is the linguistic equivalent of ‘nails on a chalkboard‘ to me. It’s used so much that I think the battle is lost though.” – helmsb
“Jealous. 90% of the time, the word they actually want is envious.” – moron88
“The word ‘less’ being used when it should be ‘fewer’.” – kindquail502
“i.e. and e.g. Both are from Latin: i.e. (“id est”) means ‘that is’ and is used like ‘in other words’ to denote a direct replacement. ‘He is a Senator, i.e. an elected official, so his opinion on the matter is suspect.’ e.g. (‘exempli gratia’) means ‘for example’ and is not limiting/exhaustive. ‘Anyone buying a Japanese vehicle, e.g. a Toyota or Honda, will pay more in tariffs.’ There are other Japanese vehicles, but those are examples.” – froction
“‘Refute’ (PROVE something wrong) in news stories when they actually mean ‘Deny’.” – Sad_Calligrapher6426
Language keeps us all a little humble
At the end of the day, this list is a good reminder that even the most confident English speakers slip up sometimes. Half the fun of language is how sneaky it can be, “moot” and “mute” sound close enough to trip up smart people constantly, and “conversate” has crept in so widely that some linguists have basically given up fighting it.
None of this is really about being a grammar snob. It’s about noticing the small, weird quirks that make English such a chaotic, borrowed, constantly shifting language in the first place. So go ahead and mix up “faze” and “phase” once in a while. At least now you’ll know exactly why someone might raise an eyebrow.
This article originally appeared last year. It has been updated.
