10 Pairs of Commonly Confused Nouns!

English is becoming the language of our day-to-day conversations but we often get confused with some words. Some of them share same pronunciation while others look similar in their meanings but are used differently.

For example, do you get confused between 'home' and 'house'? or Do you refer to someone as your 'Customer' when they are actually your 'Client'?

Well, you are not the only one facing this confusion!

To solve this problem, here, we get you a list of 10 most commonly confused nouns with an explanation about their using them correctly:

1. Client & Customer

Client and Customer commonly thought of as replacements for each other are actually not same.

When you make use of some services yourself, you become a client.
For e.g. When you visit a lawyer and engage his services, you become a client.

A customer is someone who purchases a product from another person or business.
For e.g. When you buy a sim-card or an antivirus software from a store, you are actually a customer.

2. Cement & Concrete

Have you ever seen a mason at construction site preparing the mixture of cement and other materials? This is nothing but concrete.

Although we use cement and concrete interchangeably, they are different. Cement is actually a binding component of concrete, while concrete is a mixture formed by cement and other construction materials like sand, gravel ,water and so on.

For e.g. The workers used cement to bind the gravel and repair the road near the museum.
Heavy vehicles were prohibited to run over the concrete bridge with the developing cracks due to floods.

3. Ground & Floor

You must have observed the people around you getting confused between "ground and floor".

Ground is usually the open place or surrounding outside the house.
For e.g. The students were playing cricket on the school ground.

When you refer to the lower surface of any building or a house, it is floor.
For e.g. The milk spilled on the floor.
                                                 
4. Title & Headline

Suppose you write a book or a story and you give a certain name to it. This means that you assign it a "title", a name.
For e.g. 'Othello' is the title of a novel by William Shakespeare.

While, headline is a heading given to the articles in the magazines, newspapers etc. The headline provides a gist of the write up.

While the title doesn't necessarily throw a light on the contents of the book, the headline essentially tells us what we can expect in the article.
For e.g. The story of PM's stunning victory appeared beneath the headline 'Modi hails sweetest victory in an election'.

5. Empathy & Sympathy

When you understand and can feel another person's feelings, you empathize with them. This happens when you can put yourself in the shoes of other people and see/ feel the things from their perspective.
Sympathy is a feeling when you feel pity or sorrow for someone's grief.

Correct Usage:
He gave away his old warmers to the poor beggar out of sympathy.

Being a close relative of a cancer patient, I could totally empathize with the children when their father was diagnosed with Leukemia.

6. Dilemma & Difficulty

Dilemma and difficulty may seem to be replaceable but are actually not.
Dilemma is a situation where you are bound to make a choice between two alternatives and both of them are equally undesirable. Dilemma is a kind of difficult choice.

When you find it hard or troublesome to do something effectively, you are in a difficulty.

For e.g. Having to choose between the career & the family, Paul was put in a terrible dilemma.
Joseph's family had difficulty in earning livelihood, after his father passed away.

7. Ethics & Morals

When you completely obey certain laws and principles, it means that you are ethical in your actions and thoughts. Ethics are bound to legal or professional levels which are must to follow.
For e.g. Elina's personal morals were not in line with company's ethics.

Very often, in a society or group, when you behave with your own personal beliefs and rules, you are said to be moralistic. Morals are bound to the rules framed at social or individual level, which you may either accept or reject.  
For e.g. With his interpretations of medical ethics, the doctor refused the surgery.
                 
8. Cache & Cash

Cache specifies a place where you can keep or hide the things safely. On the other hand, cash refers to money, coins or currency.
For e.g.
Street-walkers found a cache with some money and jewels.
This year, banks failed to dispense the cash for home loan.

9. Sight & Site

Sight means the power to see.
Site is a piece of land on which something is located. A site is also referred to a website (a page on the internet).

Correct usage:
As we grow older, our eye-sight becomes weak.
The Director visited the sites near Mahabaleshwar for movie shoot.

10. Complement & Compliment

A thing that complements something goes well with it or enhances its quality, look or performance.
For e.g. Sania's agility and Bhupati's technique complemented each other well, paving a way to the success in the tournament.

But, when you express appreciation for the things that are really done well by others, you simply compliment them.
For e.g. The CEO complimented the manager for his leadership skills.