Many words are often misused or confused with others that are similar.  Some of these are seen often on the internet – social sites, blogs, forums, etc. (By the way, sites is one of those words). 

Site is used for a website or a work site; whereas, one cites a reference in a paper or a person for recognition.

Another example is the dreaded there/they’re/their.  There primarily designates a location; they’re is the contraction of they are; and their is a possessive pronoun.

My house is over there.
They’re coming to my house.
They’re going back to their house.

A similar example is the use of the possessive your, rather than you’re.  I see this one frequently in texts, instant messages, Facebook, and forums.  Ex: your coming to my house, right?  I growl and want to correct the person every time I see it.  I even had a hard time writing that sample sentence.  I know many people use it because it’s shorter, but really, it is only two characters more to use the correct word.  Yes, I am one of those annoying people that types out nearly every word in a text.  I only start abbreviating if my message is running on to two or three texts before I’m done.  But if you’ve ever recieved a text from me, you could understand it, couldn’t you?

Another group of words that are commonly misused is right/write/rite/wright.  Right can designate a direction, but is also a synonym for correct.  Write probably the least misused of this group.  If you need a definition of that one, you’re in big trouble.  A rite is a ritual, such as a rite of passage.  A wright is the maker of something, such as a wheelwright.  How many knew that last one?

I could go on for pages with other misused words.  These are some common ones.  I’m sure I’ll think of others to write about another time.  English is a language that is both fascinating and irritating because of its complcated rules.