300-Plus Problem Words and Phrases - Free Ebook

English has a lot of tricky words, including but not limited to homonyms (loosely speaking), homographs and homophones similar enough to trip people up.  Let's look at some of them, and with luck shed enough light to lessen the missteps.  If nothing else, I bet I can entertain you by turning loose and taking a trip with them!

These used to be on this blog, but I'm moved them to a (free) ebook for longevity.  Direct link to the book: here.  See my entry Ebooks Update for a full list.

Meanwhile, what are all these words and phrases?  Here's the list (note that "a lot" and "allot" count as two, that's how the number gets up over 300; there's a total of 110 entries):

A lot/allot
A while/awhile
Affect/effect
Afterward/afterword
Air/Eire/ere/err/heir
Aisle/I'll/isle
All right/already/all ready
Allude/elude; allusive/elusive; allusion/illusion/delusion
Altar/alter
Alternate/alternative
Amuse/bemuse
Any more/anymore, Any one/anyone
Are/our/hour (R) ("Arrr")
Aye/eye/I (AI)
Bail/bale
Boar/boor/bore
Borough/bureau/burro/burrow
Brake/break
Breach/breech
Cache/cachet/cash
Chute/shoot
Cite/sight/site
Click/clique (klick)
Complement/compliment
Composed of/comprise
Continual(ly)/continuous(ly)
Dammed/damned
Dew/do/due
Discussed/disgust, discuss/discus
Does (does)/dose/doughs/doze
Done/dun
Dual/duel
Eek/eke
Endanger/in danger; En masse/amass/a mass
Exciting/exiting
Fair/fare
Faze/phase
For/fore/four
Gibe/jibe/jive
Gored/gourd (Gord)
Grisly/gristly/grizzled/grizzly
Hear/here (Hear, hear!)
Historic/historical
Hoard/horde
Hole/whole; holy/wholly
Immanent/imminent
Its/it's
Knead/kneed/need
Knew/new (gnu)
Knight/night (benighted)
Lay/lei/lie/lye
Lead/lead/led
Literal(ly)
Load/lode
Loose/lose
Made/maid
Meat/meet (mete)
Moot/mute
Morning/mourning
Mythic/mythical
Nay/neigh
Oar/or/ore
Ordinance/ordnance
Overseas/oversees
Pair/pare/pear
Passed/past 
Peak/peek/pique
Plum/plumb
Poor/pore/pour
Premier/premiere
Prophecy/prophesy; profit/prophet
Prostate/prostrate
Rack/wrack
Rain/reign/rein
Raise/rays/raze (race)
Rap/wrap
Real/reel
Right/rite/wright/write
Ring/wring
Road/rode
Roe/row (row)
Root/route/rout
Sea/see, "C" (sí)
Sew/so/sow
Shoe/shoo
Slay/sleigh 
Soar/sore
Staid/stayed
Steal/steel
Tacks/tax
Tea/tee (T)
Their/there/they're
Tic/tick
Tide/tied (tidings)
Toe/tow
Ton/tonne/tun
Unique/unusual
Vain/vane/vein
Wail/Wale (Wales)/Whale
Way/weigh, under way/under weigh
Wind/Wind/Winded/Wined/Wound/Wound
Wreak/wreck (reek)
Year/light-year/parsec
Your/you're/yore
Yay/yea (yeah)

All intents and purposes; intensive
Bated breath
Cut and dried
First come, first served 

The Importance of Understanding Problem Words