It’s sometimes hard to convey just what we mean to say using only the written word, particularly if the reader has no visual cues to go by to see if you’re joking or serious—whether you’re being factual or facetious (aside from a semi-colon and parenthesis, which I’ll try to use more often;)

And there’s the problem that so many words sound the same, but are spelled differently and have vastly different meanings, like pray and prey, sleigh and slay, flee and flea, see and sea, might and mite, dye and die, right and rite, seed and cede, fir and fur, sell and cell, spade and spayed, knotty and naughty or gorilla and guerilla.

Also, some words like tense, bill or colon that can denote two or three drastically dissimilar things which are spelled exactly the same.

Then there are words that look similar, but should never be mistaken for one another. Here are ten examples of that phenomenon—the first of the two has good connotations, the second…not so much;)

Photos Jim Robertson

1) Obvious — Oblivious

2) Likeable — Liable

3) Inhabitable — Inhospitable

4) Straitlaced — Straitjacketed

5) Riffle — Rifle

6) Crab — Crabber

7) Seal — Sealer

8) Whale — Whaler

9) Wolf — Wolfer

10) Humane — Human