Can You Choose Correctly Between Two Commonly Confused Words?

Imagine seeing someone taking up two separate parking spots with one gas-guzzling SUV. “What a psychopath,” you might say. But would it be correct, or would that person be better labeled a sociopath?

Every day, we’re confronted with words that are often confused with one another. Sometimes similar spelling or pronunciation can trip us up; other times, it’s simply conflating their meaning. See if you can identify which words are appropriate for each of the following sentences in the quiz below.

If you didn’t do so well, don’t worry. An effective strategy for discerning between similar words is to use mnemonic devices, or tricks that help you in recalling which word is which.

Say you read something about a subject you know a lot about and spot an error. You might label it “disinformation.” But that means the author was purposely trying to mislead you. If they merely made a factual error, it’s misinformation. An easy way to remember that is to focus on the mis-, as in mistake.

As for psychopath versus sociopath: A sociopath may have little empathy for others and won’t bother trying to hide it, whereas a psychopath might try to put up a façade of concern or care. A good mnemonic might be to remember that psychopaths may use a little psychology to appear normal. Or you could just skip the clinical diagnosis and refer to the parking lot menace as a plain jerk.

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