One of my favorite scenes in the classic movie, The Princess Bride, is where Vizzini, having kidnapped Buttercup, finds himself pursued by the Dread Pirate Roberts. Every time the pirate surmounts some obstacle to keep coming after him, Vizzini shouts "Inconceivable!"
Eventually Inigo Montoya points out that maybe that word doesn't mean what Vizzini thinks it means. That is a phrase I frequently find myself muttering while editing.
Sometimes people get similar-sounding words confused, and it's not inconceivable that your spell-checker software might not be able to tell what you really meant to say. This is where a human editor can help you out.
I've found romantic heroines behaving in a manner described as wonton (a tasty fried treat) when they should be wanton. Meanwhile, the hero is valiantly attempting to reign (strictly for kings and queens) in his passionate urges, when he should be reining (as used on horses) them in instead. And pity the poor government employee who sends out a document without checking whether they got public and pubic confused!
Mixing up hone (to sharpen) and home (to approach a fixed point) is a pet peeve of mine. I've even heard politicians get that one wrong in speeches.
Other commonly confused words to watch out for:
- bridal (wedding) and bridle (used on a horse)
- prostrate (lying down) and prostate (something men may need to see the doctor about)
- pallet (wooden platform or a temporary bed) and palette (board used by artists to mix paints)
- complement (two things that work well together) and compliment (saying something nice about someone)
- stationery (pens and paper) and stationary (not moving)
- affect and effect (generally speaking, use affect as a verb and effect as a noun)
- immolate (destroy with fire) and emulate (to imitate)
- immanent (inherent) and imminent (happening soon)