Confusing Words Clarified: Group A; Homonyms, Homophones, Homographs, Synonyms, etc. +

1. To help, assist, give a helping hand: "There are not enough organizations that give aid to the poor."
2. To foster, promote; make easy: "A good dictionary is an essential aid in the improvement of the English language."

An assistant or an adjutant: "The colonel served as an aide (aide-de-camp) or military assistant and a confidential assistant, for the general."

1. To feel sick, be ill, have pain: "This medicine is good for whatever may ail you."
2. To cause uneasiness or pain; to afflict, to sicken: "Showing a little sadness in my demeanor, people were wondering what could possibly ail me."

A bitter beer; a fermented alcoholic beverage containing malt and hops, similar to but heavier than beer: "When he went to the store, he had a thirst for ale instead of the more bland lite-beer."

1. The atmosphere we breathe: "Air is composed primarily of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, and water vapor."
2. Biosphere, stratosphere, sky: "The rocket blasted off into the air."
3. Wind, breeze, draft, current: "Cold air blew in through the open window."
4. To place something in an open area where there is a breeze to make it cool, dry, or clean: "We put the blanket out on the line to air out."

Prior to; before in time: "We will have a warm fire ere nightfall and so ere long we will be comfortable."

1. To make a mistake, slip up, miscalculate: "Banks rarely err in figuring a checking account balance."
2. To deviate from an established moral code; to transgress, sin, misbehave: "To err is human, to forgive divine."

1. One who is legally entitled to inherit and to own an estate after the previous owner’s death; a beneficiary, an inheritor: "The millionaire’s only heir was his son."
2. A person who succeeds or is in line to succeed to a hereditary rank, title, or office: "The king did not have an heir when he died."

A passageway or corridor; for example: a narrow aisle between two rows of seats; a path way: "The aisle was crammed with people."

A contraction of "I will" or "I shall": "I’ll do it as soon as I can."

A very small island, an islet: "He bought his own private isle so he could build a house and have more privacy."

"We’ll go to that beautiful isle where I’ll walk down the aisle with my wonderful bride."

Connected with food, nutrition: "The surgeon removed an obstruction in Sam's alimentary canal."

Connected with rudiments, fundamentals: "The little boy has just started elementary school."

1. The whole of something; the entire contents of: "We drank all the milk that was left in the fridge."
2. Every one of, each of; the whole number of: "All of the people had to be checked before they could get into the aircraft."
3. Everything, every item; the whole quantity: "Is that all that you can carry?"

A tool for making holes in wood, leather, etc.: "The shoe repairman used an awl to make a new shoe-lace hole."

1. To make something less severe or strong: "The managers of the store tried to allay fears that some of the workers would lose their jobs."
2. To rest, to relieve: "Medicine will allay a person's pain."

1. A passageway, a narrow thoroughfare, narrow back street: "There was a busy street in front of the house and an alley behind it."
2. Narrow passage: "This alley leads nowhere."

Alley follows the simple rule of adding an “s” to become a plural; "alley, alleys": "Cats prowled the alleys of the town."

Narrow passages: "The city has many blind alleys."

A metal made by melting and mixing two or more metals or a metal and another material mixed together: "Part of the freezer was made of aluminum alloy."

1. Associate, partner, friend; collaborator: "The United States was an ally of Great Britain in two world wars."
2. To join with, band together: "Many of the townspeople planned to ally themselves as a group in an effort to lower their taxes."

Don't confuse alleys with allies, the plural of ally: "France was just one of the U.S. allies during the war."

A large reptile that lives near water, has thick scaly skin, powerful jaws, a long tail, and a shorter and broader snout than a crocodile. Native to the southern United States, and the Yangtze river in China: "We were surprised to see an alligator in our back yard during our Florida vacation."

A large carnivorous reptile that lives near water, and has a long thick-skinned body and a broad head with strong jaws and which lives in geographical regions with hot weather; especially, the Nile crocodile: "When we went to Egypt, we saw a crocodile on the shore of the Nile river."

In the Alligatoridae, the teeth of the lower jaw fit inside those of the upper jaw, whereas in the Crocodylidae, the teeth of the two jaws form a single interdititating row when the jaws are closed.

In crocodiles, the fourth tooth of the lower jaw fits into an indentation of the upper jaw and is exposed to view when the mouth is closed.

In alligators, this tooth is hidden from view when the mouth is closed, because it fits into a pit which exists in the upper jaw.

Other physical characteristics exist; however, the foregoing information is the most outstanding.

Crocodilians are well-adapted as predators, with few natural enemies. Bony plates, called osteoderms, form a kind of armor in their thick skin.

Their teeth, about 30 to 40 in each jaw, are set into sockets in the jawbones and interlock when the mouth is closed.

Crocodilians are the most vocal reptiles, producing sounds from quiet hisses to fearsome roars and bellows, usually during the mating season. On land, crocodilians move quickly in a belly crawl but can also gallop and walk mammal-like on all four legs.

When all of those in a group are in agreement, or disagreement, about something: "We're all mighty glad to see you."

Having absolute power; all-powerful: "Judaism is said to be the first religion to teach the existence of a supreme deity having almighty power."

1. To permit someone to do something; give permission to; authorize, approve: "My salary has not allowed me to live extravagantly."

"The teacher allowed us to leave school early."

2. Allocate, grant, provide: "Have you allowed yourself at least an hour to get to the airport?"

Not in a whisper; in a normal speaking voice, audibly: "If you want to say it aloud, go ahead."

"The ancients were in the habit of reading aloud even when they were alone."

Everyone or everything is prepared; quite ready in every particular; completely ready: "I was all ready to start my next job."

"They will go to the office when they are all ready."

1. By this time; soon: "Are you finished with your work already?"
2. Before this time: "We arrived at noon but you had already gone."

"When he arrived, the bus had already gone."

1. Healthy, in good health; safe, uninjured: "She was all right in spite of her accident."
2. Satisfactorily, acceptably: "The new cake recipe turned out to be all right."
3. Yes, very well: "All right, I will do it just as you want it to be done."

When hyphenated, this is the spelling for the slang adjective: "He’s an all-right guy."

This is generally considered to be the only acceptable “exception” to all right.

This is never an acceptable spelling for all right; regardless of how many times you may see it misspelled in print.

Alright, although often misused by many people, it is still considered substandard English!

Everyone in a group: "We found the boys all together in the living room."
"We were all together for the whole day."
"All together now, everyone, let's sing!"

1. To the whole extent; completely; entirely: "The house was altogether destroyed by fire."

"We were not altogether pleased by the outcome of the election."

2. On the whole; considering everything: "Altogether, I'm sorry it happened."
3. Informal, naked; nude: "When she opened the door, there her little boy stood in the altogether".

To refer to indirectly without specific identification or details, to mention, to refer to: "He tried to allude to his childhood on the farm."

"The candidate was heard to allude to the recent war by saying, 'We’ve all made sacrifices.'"

1. To cause someone to believe something that is not true: "She said, if he thinks I care, then he will simply delude himself."
2. To deceive the mind or judgment of: "Much of the spam on the internet is done to delude people with some scheme or trickery."

1. To flood with water; inundate; submerge: "The deluge of rain caused severe mudslides."
2. To give or to send someone a large amount of things at the same time: "There will be a deluge of mail after the holidays."

1. To avoid, escape from, evade as by daring, cleverness, or skill: "The burglar found a way to elude the police by hiding in a dumpster. The suspect continues to elude the police because once more he was able to hide from them."
2. To escape the understanding or grasp of: "This is a name that has always eluded me and it continues to elude me."

"The true meaning of his speech will elude me unless I can find a dictionary."

To deceive; to mock; to excite and to disappoint the hopes of: "Any increase in salary will simply illude us in this time of economic slowdown."

1. To direct to a source for help or information: "After completing the forms, she was able to refer me to the personnel director."
2. To assign or to attribute to; make reference to: "The writer wanted us to refer to the history book so he could verify his point."
3. To turn, to go; to consult: "Refer to the last page of the book for answers."

To refer to someone or something is to mention directly with specific identification.

1. An indirect reference to something; a hint: "This book about American history makes a brief allusion to the ancient Greek idea of democracy."
2. A statement that refers to something without mentioning it directly; an implied or indirect reference: "She made an allusion to her first marriage, but she said nothing more revealing about it."

An allusion is never an outright or explicit mention of the person or thing the speaker seems to have in mind.

1. A false idea, belief, or opinion that is contrary to fact or reality, resulting from deception or a misconception: "He labored under the delusion that he would be successful."
2. A mental disorder; a false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence; especially, as a mental disorder: "He had a delusion that all women hated him."

"She had the delusion of being extraordinarily beautiful."

"He had the delusion that he was a young boy riding his tricycle as he was balanced on his head."

Technically, a delusion is a belief that, though false, has been surrendered to and accepted by the whole mind as the truth.

Evasion, escape by deception: "The embezzlers celebrated their elusion of the police a little too soon because they were caught."

1. A deception; a false, although often pleasant, notion; a misconception: "A person's illusion of youth fades with maturity."
2. A misleading visual impression; hallucination: "Mirrors give an illusion of more space in a room."
3. A deceptive appearance; anything that seems to be something else or something that seems to exist but actually does not: "He had the illusion that the woman was floating above his bed."