Confusable Words (1)

First posted on History Survey on 9/15/2007.

There are a lot of small words in English that many of us confuse. Here are three examples:

between / among — We use between for two things and among for three or more things. “The two friends shared the money between themselves.” “The three men shared the money among themselves.”

many / much — We modify countable words with many and uncountable words with much. “She has much patience.” (We cannot count patience.) “She has many friends.” (We can count friends. Notice how it is in the plural.) Whether or not a word is countable does not matter if you decide to use a lot instead.

fewer / less — When we compare things, we use fewer for countable nouns and less for uncountable nouns. “I have less money than Donald Trump.” (Notice how the word money appears in the singular here. You can count money, but the word money is uncountable.) “I have fewer dollars than Donald Trump.” (Notice how the word dollars appears in the plural here. It is countable.)

What words do you find confusing? Which dictionary do you use for further assistance?