Misused Homonyms - revisited

[tedster]

We have an old thread about using the wrong homonym in business writing [webmasterworld.com]. You know, the kind of spelling error that no spell checker will ever catch because it's still a good word, but just wrong. These errors make a web page look illiterate.

ALLOWED
ALOUD

I'm running into this one all the time lately.

[Woz]

The one I find very ammusing is "vein attempt" instead of "vain attempt".

The latter is correct of course an attempt despite almost certain failure.

The former would perhaps only be of interest to Vampires or the local Red Cross.

Onya
Woz

[shelleycat]

It's threads like these which make me wonder if I spelled things correctly or spelt them wrong. ;)

Never could work out those two words.

[jatar_k]

instead of all intents and purposes someone wrote for all intensive purposes.

very nuch changed the tone of her email ;)

[habitat675]

can't forget who's and whose... but it's and its is my major pet peeve

[Filipe]

I know this isn't exactly a homonym, but boy does it piss me off:

lose
loose

I've seen people I've consdered great writers (both as far as grammar and spelling) make this mistake. Get it write.

"Did you lose that book I lent you?"
"I loosed my dog on the burglar."

[mivox]

One seen in a memo from my boss today:

tow the mark instead of toe the mark

Of course, the mistake becomes even more obvious when you say "toe the line," as the alternative gives me visions of dragging a giant heavy rope around behind me...