Here are a few of the most famous mix-ups featured in the book with captions by the editors of "100 Words." Cache, “a hidden store,” is sometimes confused with cachet, “prestige, appeal.” Both words come from French, but cache is pronounced like “cash,” while cachet rhymes with “sashay.” The confusion may be encouraged because we often don’t write final accents for words borrowed from French like resume and protege, so people may mistakenly think that cache is one of these words ending in an “ay” sound. Cachet is one of these “-ay” words, but one that ends in –et, like cabaret.
enervate / energizeMany people believe that enervate is a synonym of energize, but in fact the words are antonyms. Enervate means “to deprive of energy or vitality.” This is because enervate comes ultimately from Latin nervus, “sinew,” and means literally “to cause to be without sinews,” that is, “to weaken.” Ancient and medieval anatomists could not distinguish the white fibers of sinews or tendons from those of nerves, and the word nerve was once used for both things.
flounder / founder These words are closely related. It’s probably that flounder (the verb, not the fish) is derived from founder. If you flounder, you move clumsily or struggle along (as you might in deep snow), and the word is applied metaphorically to other endeavors in which you have difficulty. If you founder, you sink to the bottom, like a ship, and fail utterly.
pore / pour When you read something closely, you pore over it. You only pour over something if you are dumping a liquid on it. It may seem to some that they are pouring their attention or vision over something they are reading, and this metaphor encourages the confusion.
shined / shone Shine is one of those “strong verbs” that had an irregular past tense and past participle (shone) but later acquired a regular form ending in -ed as well. Some people use the forms interchangeably, but there is a pattern that most people follow to keep them distinct. Shined takes a personal subject and an object: I shined the flashlight at the bear. Shone is used of light sources and does not take an object: The moon shone over the harbor.
throe / throw The noun throe is an odd-looking word that is sometimes confused with the more familiar noun and verb throw. The confusion may arise because throe refers to a spasm accompanied by pain, so it suggests violent movement and evokes an image of throwing one’s body around, thrashing in pain. Throe often appears in the phrase in the throes of (a woman in the throes of labor). It is also used figuratively to refer to an ordeal or difficulty: in the throes of breaking up with her boyfriend.
wangle / wrangle When you wangle something, you get it by contrivance of almost any kind: The fan wangled his way into the club by tipping the doorman. Usually wrangle means “to argue,” as in The two comedians wrangled over who should perform first. But it has developed the meaning of “to obtain by persuasion or verbal arguing.” So if you wrangle a ticket to the premiere, you get it by arguing. If you wangle the ticket, your methods could be many and various.
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