1. Artist/Artiste
An Artist is a painter or somebody who draws or carves while an Artiste is a performer such as a dancer, an actor, or a singer.
2. Biannual/Biennial
Biannual means happening twice in a year while Biennial means an event taking place once every two years. Perennial means happening for very long period of time; happening again and again.
3. Luxurious/Luxuriant
Luxuriant is used to describe something rich, attractive, and beautiful while Luxurious is used to describe something that is very comfortable containing expensive and enjoyable things.
4. Born/Borne
Born normally comes before the preposition "of" e.g. Angela was born of Nigerian parents in Italy. Borne comes before the preposition "by". Borne is the last participle of bear while the past tense is bore e.g. Owen, the Italian football was borne by British mother.
5. Comprehensible/Comprehensive
Comprehensible is used to describe something that can be easily understood by an average reader e.g. His letter was quite Comprehensible. Comprehensive is used to describe what is complete and has all necessary information e.g. The report of the robbery crime was quite comprehensive. They are both adjective.
6. Client/Customer
A customer is one who buys something from a shop while a client is one who receives or gets services from a professional.
7. Elder/Senior/Younger/Junior
Elder and Younger are used within the family while Senior and Junior are used in schools or offices. Therefore, it is wrong to say: That boy is my senior brother. It should be: That boy is my elder brother.
8. Academic/Academia/Academician
An Academic is someone who teaches and does research in a university. That is, a lecturer. Many people mistake it for Academia which actually means a world of learning, teaching and research at a university. An Academician on the other hand is a member of an academy. An academy here means a type of official organization aimed at encouraging art, literature and science.
9. Talker/Speaker
A Talker is somebody who speaks well in a conversation e.g. Mary is a good talker, I enjoy her conversation. A Speaker on the other hand is used to talk about somebody who makes or delivers speeches in events e.g. Felicia Duncan is a good public speaker.
10. Altogether/All together
Altogether means "in total" or "completely" e.g. We are expecting twenty people altogether for the party. All together on the other hand means "all at once or all in one place" e.g. Pay me my money all together.
11. Beside/Apart from/Besides
Beside is a preposition used to show location e.g. I saw a rat beside your leg just now. Besides is used for making an extra comment to what has been said earlier e.g. I don't really love the girl. Besides she is ugly. It can also be used as a preposition meaning 'Apart from' and 'in addition' e.g. I do admire everything about you besides your laziness. Besides losing his parents, the poor boy is a school dropout.
12. Blind/Blindly
Blindly (adverb) means 'not being able to see what you are doing' or 'not thinking about something' e.g. The boy blindly went ahead to marry the evil girl. Blind (adverb) means not being able to see.
13. Cautious/Careful
Being Cautious means doing something slowly or after a lot of thought because of fear or nervousness while being Careful means doing something after a lot of thought but without fear or nervousness.
14. Close/Shut
Close and Shut could really means the same thing but note that when 'shut' is used, it involves more noise. Also, shut is more often used for containers such as boxes, suitcases, etc. Closed is used in front of a noun whereas, shut is not e.g. A closed door, but we cannot say: A shut door. Closed is also usually used with roads, airports, etc. e.g. The roads were closed because of the protest.
15. Distrust/Mistrust
Distrust is used if you are sure that someone is acting dishonestly or cannot be relied on while Mistrust is used if you express doubt and suspicious over a person's honesty. You are not quite sure.
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