• mews (street, cat sounds); muse (ponder)
• might (power, could); mite (tiny amount)
• mill (1/10 cent; grinder); mil (unit of length or thickness)
• millinery (hats); millinary (thousand)
• miner (one who mines); minor (lesser; under legal age)
• minimal means least possible; don't use it to mean unlikely.
• moan (groan); mown (mowed)
• moat (ditch); mote (speck)
• moose (animal); mousse (dessert)
• morn (poetic license for morning); mourn (grieve)
• mule (animal; slipper); mewl (cry)
• mutton (sheep meat); mouton (sheepskin)
• muscle (strength); mussel (shellfish); muzzle (restrain, nose)
• nay (no); neigh (whinny)
• oar means a paddle used for rowing a boat; it's a noun, never a verb.
• offal is waste matter, usually fecal (and though it's “awful,” it's not spelled that way).
• official (authorized); officious (bossy)
• oracle (seer); auricle (part of the ear)
• oscillate (swing back and forth); osculate (kiss)
• ought (should); aught (zero)
• overdo (exaggerate); overdue (late)
• overseas (abroad); oversees (supervises)
• pail (bucket); pale (blanch)
• pain (suffering); pane (glass)
• pair (two); pear (fruit); pare (peel)
• palate (roof of mouth); palette (paint board); pallet (bed)
• pall (coffin cover, grow dull, gloom); pawl (hinged device)
• parameter (limit); perimeter (boundary)
• parish (church); perish (die)
• peak (summit); peek (look); pique (resentment; provoke; spur)
• peal (ring); peel (pare)
• pearl (gem); purl (knit) |