Vocabulary in use vocabulary reference and practice Third Edition Elementary Michael McCarthy Felicity O’Dell

What do you think these words and phrases mean? Use the information about suffixes from 
the opposite page to help you.
1 a hair dryer
a thing that you use to dry your hair
2 a traveller
3 slowly
4 hopeful
5 rainy
6 painless
7 badly
8 a tin opener
9 a footballer
10 snowy
59.2
59.3
59.4
1 a s
4 He’s smiling h
2 a golf i
5 a c
3 a s
6 a u
thing
unny day
electric cooker / guitar
opener

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126
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
This unit looks at words which are easy to mix up.
Similar sounds
quite 
/kwat/
 
/
 quiet 
/kwa@t/
This book is 
quite
good. bad 
quite good 
good
My bedroom is very 
quiet
[
silent
]. 
lose 
/luz/ 
/
 loose 
/lus/
A: Why do I always 
lose
my keys!
B: Here they are.
A: Oh, thank you!
If you 
lose
something, you do not know where it is / you can’t find it.
These trousers are very 
loose
. (loose means they are not tight, because they are too big) 
fell 
/
 felt
Fell
is the past of 
fall
.
Yesterday I 
fell
and broke my arm. 
Felt
is the past of 
feel
.
I 
felt
ill yesterday, but I 
feel
OK today.
cook 
/
 cooker
He is a very good 
cook
[
the person who cooks
].
This 
cooker
costs £500. [
the thing you cook on
] 
Similar or related meanings
lend 
/
 borrow
If you 
lend
something, you 
give
it. 
If you 
borrow
something, you 
get
it.
Sam wants a bicycle:
SAM: Will you 
lend
me your bicycle? (= you 
give
it to me for one day / an hour, etc.)
or
Can I 
borrow
your bicycle? (= I 
get
it from you)
RITA: Yes, take it.
SAM: Thanks.
check 
/
 control
The passport off icer 
checked
my passport. [
looked at it
]
We use the mouse to 
control
the computer. [
tell it what to do
]
Other words often mixed up
A
B
C
In English the 
aft ernoon
is from about 
12 o’clock till 5 or 6 pm. 
The 
evening
is from 5 or 6 pm until about 9 or 10 pm.
Aft er 9 or 10 pm it is the 
night
.
Words you may confuse
60
They’re 
waiting for
the bus. 
I 
hope
I pass my exams. [
I really 
want to pass
]
I haven’t studied; I 
expect
I’ll fail 
my exams. [
it’s probable
]
Do you want 
to borrow it?
evening
aft ernoon

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Exercises
127
English Vocabulary in Use Elementary
Fill the gaps with words from A opposite. The first letter is given.
1 Please be q
. The baby is sleeping.
2 If you l
your passport you must call the embassy.
3 I f
tired this morning, but I am OK now.
4 We are going to buy a c
for our new kitchen.
5 She f
and broke her leg. She had to go to hospital.
6 It’s q
cold today. 
7 Do you have this skirt in a smaller size? This one is too l
.
8 My sister is a good c
. I love eating at her house.
What does each word below sound like? Circle the correct word.
1 lose 
juice
shoes
2 loose
juice
shoes
3 quite
right
higher
4 quiet 
right
higher
Answer these questions.
1 Why do we use a mouse with a computer? To 
2 What does the passport officer do to your passport? He/She 
.
3 If you want to use someone’s camera for two hours, what do you say? 
Can I 
?
4 What do you say to someone at 3 pm? Good 
.
5 What do people do at a bus stop? They 
.
6 What do you say to a friend if you need £1?
Can you 
?
7 What do you say if someone makes too much noise? Please be 
.
Answer these questions.
1 Are you expecting any visitors today?
2 What do you hope to do this summer?
3 Do you borrow things from your friends? What things?
4 Would you lend £100 to your best friend?
Look at these units to find other words that are often confused:
Do
and 
make
Units 40
and 
41
Take
and 
bring
Units 43
and 
44
Say
,
 tell
,
 speak
and 
talk
Unit 48
Rob
and 
steal
Unit 34 
60.1
60.2
60.3
60.4
uiet
control it.
Over to 
you
Look up these pairs of verbs in a dictionary and 
make notes on the difference in meaning:
1
lie – lay – lain 
lay – laid – laid
2
rise – rose – risen 
raise – raised – raised