I’ve recently come across several commonly misused word traps, just in the last week. Legal nurse consultants may avoid embarrassing errors by reviewing these commonly misused and misspelled words.
Peak versus Pique
“This really peaks my curiosity.”
Right or wrong?
The correct spelling should be pique, a French word from “a prick, irritation.” As a verb, pique means to cause to feel resentment or indignation, to provoke, arouse, or to pride (oneself). “This piqued my interest” is a common use of the term.
Complimentary versus Complementary
“You may have complimentary access to an article.”
Right or wrong?
This is right. Complimentary means expressing a compliment, praising, approving or given or supplied free of charge. Think of complimentary with an “i” as it matches the “i” in gift.
Complementary is also an adjective that is used to form or serve as a complement, completing, supplying mutual needs or offsetting mutual lacks. You may recall that the color wheel has complementary colors.
Boon versus Boom
“This is a boom to the economy.”
Right or wrong?
The word should be boon, which is a thing that is helpful or beneficial. A boom means to grow or progress rapidly as in “business is booming”.
Ironically versus Coincidentally
“The expert witness was from Philadelphia, which was ironically where the defendant lived.”
Right or wrong?
In this case, there is nothing ironic about the coincidence. The term should be “coincidentally”. Here is a correct use of ironic: “Ironically, the senator who was adamantly opposed to tort reform sought out a plaintiff attorney when his wife died in childbirth.”
Always keep in mind that spell checkers will not catch words that are correctly spelled but incorrect in a sentence. “Form” versus “from” is one that I run into a lot. “Trial” versus “trail” is another one that affects attorneys. I overheard two professional meeting planners discussing how the sales office of a hotel posted an event as a conference for “trail attorneys”. They decided to make them feel right at home by decorating the room with leaves and fake trees.
50 Commonly Misused Word Traps
Watch out for these words. And make sure you can spell them.
1. Acceptable
2. Accidentally
3. Accommodate
4. Argument
5. Believe
6. Calendar
7. Category
8. Committed
9. Conscience
10. Conscientious
11. Consensus
12. Definite
13. Discipline
14. Embarrass
15. Exhilarate
16. Fiery
17. Foreign
18. Gauge
19. Guarantee
20. Harass
21. Height
22. Hierarchy
23. Immediate
24. Independent
25. Indispensable
26. Inoculate
27. Jewelry
28. Judgment
29. Leisure
30. Liaison
31. Library
32. License
33. Maintenance
34. Maneuver
35. Medieval
36. Memento
37. Millennium
38. Miniscule
39. Mischievous
40. Occasion
41. Occurrence
42. Pastime
43. Receive
44. Referred
45. Reference
46. Schedule
47. Separate
48. Supersede
49. Vacuum
50. Weird
And please do not use irregardless. It is not a word.
Source of misspelled words: Analysis and Critique: How to Engage and Write About Anything, Professor Dorsey Armstrong, The Great Courses
Pat Iyer MSN RN LNCC is president of The Pat Iyer Group. Polish your writing skills by investing in the Writing Handbook for Legal Nurse Consultants. Immediately boost your ability as a legal nurse consultant to gain clients and earn big fees by perfecting your resume and work product.