mystic:someone involved in mysterious things, usually relating to the occult and other non-mainstream beliefs. Also can describe things related to these beliefs and traditions
Jane saw a mystic to contact her husband’s spirit.
mystique: a sense of mystery, power and interest about a person, place or event
Modern communications have reduced the mystique of fashion models.
If you have trouble remembering which is which, remember that mystique is about mystery and questions.
elicit: develop or arouse something.
The sad story will elicit your emotions and responses.
A problem solving team may elicit a solution faster than you alone.
illicit: illegal or otherwise forbidden (perhaps morally or against rules.)
The couple had an illicit meeting during the conference.
Not sure how to remember which is which? Notice that illicit is illegal and ‘wrong’, so it can be considered an ill choice or action.
This is a pair of words that sound identical and have the same letters but have very different meanings and are very different in other tenses.
pride: feelings of self-respect, value, and worth, especially after an achievement or about a particular aspect of self/life
Mary takes pride in her work and her customer’s feedback.
He has pride; she is proud
pried: to have peered or looked into something beyond a casual glance; to have levered things apart
Tom pried the board off the fence so he could see inside.
She pried into his papers; a spy will pry into many things.
artisan: a skilled craftsperson or manual worker
A number of artisans can be seen at work behind their market stalls.
artist:a person skilled in a fine art (such as painting, silversmithing or sculpting)
Johann asked the artist to do a portrait of his wife.
artiste: a professional performer or enteratiner, especially a dancer or singer; someone with artisitic pretensions
Dame Nelly Melba was an artiste renowned for her farewells.
So an artisan is skilled a manual skill outside of the fine arts, which could include a mechanic, a carpenter, a cook and a draftsperson. Some artisans may be artistic even if they don’t work with a fine art.
While this may be an uncommon pair of words in business writing, they are both used in speech fairly often so it is worth knowing how to spell both words.
fogy: person with old fashioned ideas and attitudes. Also spelt fogey and often used in a derogative way.
Jim was only 20 but his friends called him an old fogy.
foggy: murky, not clear, dull. Often refers to air when clouds are low
It was foggy when we climber out of our tents this morning.
artefact: any object made by humankind
The archeologist was excited to find some artefacts in the cave.
artisan: a skilled craftsperson or manual worker
A number of artisans can be seen at work behind their market stalls.
artifice: contrivance, cunning, skilled trick; skill
The conman’s artifice had fooled many people in the last five years.
artificer: inventor, skilled crafts person; skilled mechanic (in miltary and naval usage)
Da Vinci is one of the most famous artificers in European history.
Remember the artefact is the object made by the artisan, who might show some artifice in the process.
Although they sound exactly the same, the word altogether and phrase all together are quite different.
all together: at the same time, acting in unison
All together, 50 students visited the display.
altogether: completely, entirely
The recipe was altogether different to my version.
The simple way to remember which is which is to think of all the parts being together – all together.
Sometimes words don’t have to sound alike to be commonly swapped with another word of different meaning. For example, reforestation and afforestation are often misused – note reafforestation (also used by many people) is not a word at all!
afforestation: planting trees/seeds to make a cleared area into a forested area
Afforestation is slowly reducing the size of the desert.
reforestation: replanting trees/seeds to replace a forest after fire or felling
The timber company is involved in reforestation after every logging project.
I recently saw a sign on the back of a bus that included ”available exclusively at no other department stores”.
It left me wondering was it exclusive to the advertiser or not? It was the only department store stocking the product but it could well be available at other places which means it wasn’t exclusive at all!
Let’s look at what exclusive really means…
exclusive: entirely, not shared or including others
The reporter had an exclusive story as the witness spoke only to her.
Exclusive is an absolute term so it can’t be qualified – that is, something is exclusive or it isn’t, there is no middle option. “I’ll give you and the other TV stations an exclusive interview” and “the exclusive club is open to everyone” don’t make sense.
With only one letter different and both words having a negative aspect, adverse and averse are easily conufsed if you aren’t careful.
adverse: not in your best interests, unfavourable
She had an adverse reaction to the new medicine.
averse: strongly against or opposed; turn away
He is averse to opening a new branch in Sydney.
verse: text with metre and rythym, such as in poetry or a section of a song
The second verse is my favourite part of the song.
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