Confused Words
Lesson 4
chose, choose
Name: ___________________________
Date: ______________
Chose is the past tense of the verb choose.
Martin Luther King chose to write The Strength to Love – a book that says choosing a nonviolent response to
injustice takes strength.
faint, feign, feint
Faint means “without strength” or “to lose consciousness.” Feign is a verb that means “to
pretend or make-up,” and feint is a noun that means “movement or activity that is pretend
or false.
To avoid a tackler, the running back feigned a run one way; then quickly cut back in the other direction. The
tackler grabbed nothing but air and fainted from embarrassment.
fewer, less
Fewer refers to the number of separate units; less refers to bulk quantity. Fewer is used for
things counted individually. Less I used with things that are not counted individually.
Papa Bear growled when he found less porridge in his bowl, but Mama Bear smiled because she knew he would
gain fewer pounds with the new portion size.
quiet, quit and quite
Quiet is the opposite of noisy. Quit means “to stop.” Quite means “completely or entirely.”
The library remained quite quiet until Mark started hiccupping and couldn’t quit.
set, sit
Sit means “to put the body in a seated position.” Set means “to place.”
How can you just sit there and watch as I set all these chairs in place?
sight, cite, site
Sight means “the act of seeing.” Cite means “to quote” or “to summon.” Site means
“location or position.”
The building inspector cited the electrical contractor for breaking two city codes at a downtown job site.
It was not a pretty sight when the two men started arguing in front of the crowd.
than, then
Than is used in a comparison; then tells you when.
Then he cried and said that his big brother was bigger than my big brother. Then, I cried.
Loose, lose, loss
Loose means “free, untied, unrestricted.” Lose means “to misplace or fail to find or control.”
Loss means “something that is lost.”
These sweatpants are nice and loose for Thanksgiving dinner.
We don’t want to lose this game, at this point we do not have one loss recorded on the season.
way, weigh
Way means “path or route” and weigh means “to measure weight.”
Since our dog weighs too much, we now take him on long walks all the way around the park.
Circle the correct word in the following sentences.
1. Who the American people (choose, chose) as president depends, in part, on whom they (choose, chose) four
years ago.
2. A (faint, feign, feint) to the abdomen fooled the boxer’s opponent into dropping his guard.
3. (Fewer, less) people mean (fewer, less) money for the charity.
4. The (cite, sight, site) of the monument was (cited, sighted, sited) in the tourist guide.
5. The mechanic will (set, sit) the defective parts down before he (sets, sits) down with the manager to discuss
repairs.
6. The (quiet, quit, quite) before the storm was (quiet, quit, quite) scary.
7. The (loose, lose, loss) binding caused the (loose, lose, loss) of the package contents.
8. First, he bumped the back of my car. (Than, Then) he said it was more my fault (than, then) his.
9. The (way, weigh) we eat determines how much we (way, weigh).
10. I have (fewer, less) M&Ms in my candy bowl than before you came. Did you eat them? I have to put out
(fewer, less) candy each day so I don’t eat it all myself!
Write 10 sentences using the confused words correctly. Each word should be used at least once.
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10.
Circle the correct word in the following sentences.