Here are a dozen words that get mispronounced and misused so much that the wrong form can sound as good as the right one.
Aesthetic. There’s a th in the middle, so it’s pronounced as-THE-tic. It’s not as-TE-tic.
Height. It doesn’t have a th at the end. A box may have length, width, breadth, and depth, but it doesn’t have heighth. It just has height.
Asterisk. Keep the last s sound. It’s not pronounced AS-ter-ick or even as-TER-ick. It’s AS-ter-isk.
Athlete. There are only two syllables – ath-lete. Don’t put another one in and make it ath-e-lete.
Escape. It has an s, not an x. It’s es-cape, not ex-cape.
Nauseous v. nauseated. Nauseous means sickening, as a nauseous odor. Nauseated means feeling sick. Someone who is nauseous won’t have many friends. There’s also a spelling point to remember: when something goes on so long that it nauseates people, it continues ad nauseam (with an a), not ad nauseum (with a u).
Podium v. lectern. The podium is the platform and the lectern is the reading desk on top of it. A speaker perches on the podium and leans on the lectern.
Irregardless v. regardless. The right word is just regardless. There’s no need to put ir in front of it. It’s irrelevant, irrational, and irregular, but it’s only regardless.
Farther v. further. Farther is part of far-farther-farthest and means a measurable distance. One person runs farther than another. But further means more or to a greater extent, as in we searched further. And for that reason, it’s furthermore, not farthermore.
Appraise v. apprise. Appraise means to determine the value of something. Apprise means to notify someone. The appraiser apprises the buyer of the appraised value of the antique.
Hone in v. home in. Hone means sharpen, so hone in means to focus on or aim at something. A missile hones in on its target. It’s not home in, which doesn’t mean much of anything.
Awhile v. a while. This one’s tricky. If the word for could be put in front of it, use awhile. We’ll stay (for) awhile. It’s an adverb. But when for or any other preposition such as in is already in front, make it two words. We’ll stay for a while. Now while is the object of the preposition for. Or I’ll be there in a while. It’s the object of the preposition in.
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