• pedal (foot lever); peddle (sell)
• peer (look, equal, nobleman); pier (wharf)
• peon (worker); paean (song of praise)
• peremptory (not open to debate, ordered without discussion as in a court of law); pre-emptory (the act of obtaining by force or show of strength as in a contest or war)
• perquisite (benefit, hence the slang perks); prerequisite (prior requirement)
• persecute (harass); prosecute (to try by law)
• personal (private); personnel (employees)
• perspective (view); prospective (likely or expected)
• petty (small); petit (lesser, as in petit larceny); petite (small)
• physic (cathartic); physique (build); psychic (mental)
• pica (12 points); pika (animal)
• pinion (gear wheel); piñon (tree)
• place (set); plaice (fish)
• plate (dish); plait (bread)
• plum (fruit); plumb (weight)
• pole (rod); poll (canvass)
• policy (plan); polity (government)
• populace (the people); populous (thickly populated)
• popular (well liked); poplar (tree)
• poultry (fowl); paltry (petty)
• pour (flow); pore (to study, skin opening)
• pray (implore); prey (victim, attack)
• precede (to go before); proceed (to continue)
• prescribe (to order); proscribe (to forbid)
• presentment (legal presentation); presentiment (premonition)
• profit (gain); prophet (seer)
• prophecy (prediction); prophesy (to predict)
• propose (to suggest); purpose (reason)
• prone (lying face down); supine (lying face up)
• prostrate (submissive, cowed); prostate (male urinary gland)
• put (to place); putt (golf stroke)
• queue (line); cue (signal)
• quire (a great “Scrabble” word [and the only time you'll probably use it] meaning 24 sheets of paper); choir (singing group)
• rack (framework); wrack (ruin)
• rain (precipitation); reign (rule); rein (restraint) |