Take a Breath! Breathe, Breathe, Breathe!
breath, breathe: This one is simple, but it’s a very common mistake.
Breath (breth with a soft /th/ sound) is the noun: I need to catch my breath. Take a deep breath and cough. Breathe (/breeeeeth/ with a hard /th/ sound) is the verb: Breathe in and out slowly, please. Don’t breathe the chlorine fumes.
The confusion comes, I think, from the fact that, when the verb is conjugated, the final “e” is dropped when the endings are added. He isn’t breathing!
The distinction is clear in this example: We had to use oxygen to help him breathe, as he was unable to catch his breath after breathing in the toxic fumes.
raise, raze: This is an important distinction, as these words are utterly opposite in meaning. They are homophones, which creates the confusion.
Raise means lift up: Raise your hand if you’re sure. Raze means to utterly destroy, to reduce to bare earth and rubble: The Visigoths were known to raze entire villages, leaving no two stones stacked together.
The distinction is clear in this example: We will raise new towers to replace the two that were razed by homicidal terrorists.
lose, loose: Sometimes this error is merely due to sloppy typing and failure to proofread; other times, I have found that there is true confusion about the forms.
Lose (/looz/) is a verb indicating that something has been misplaced or done away with, or that one has failed to win: He will lose his shirt if he loses the poker game. (Note the spelling of the verb in the conditional phrase!) Loose (/loos/) is an adjective meaning “not tight, insecure, or dubious”: That button is loose. That man has loose morals.
The distinction is clear in this example: Don’t lose that loose tooth when it falls out or the tooth fairy may lose your address!