Words Commonly Confused

Die and dye

Different forms

Die / dying / died

Dye / dyeing / dyed

To die is to perish, stop or diminish. To dye is to colour something by a chemical matter. The colouring matter is also called dye as in hair-dye.

• The rose bushes will die without water.
• The sound died away.
• Dye these Easter eggs. (NOT Die these Easter eggs)
• She dyed her hair black.
• Add more dye to the water.

Hope and hop

Different forms

Hop / hopping / hopped

Hope / hoping / hoped

To hop is to jump, leap or spring.

• The rabbit hopped across the field.
• The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.

Hop can also be a noun.

• With one hop the frog was back in the pond.

Hope

Hope means faith, confidence, reassurance or optimism. It can be a noun or verb.

• Today’s young people give me hope for the future.
• His fondest hope is to retire to his native place.
• We hope to buy a new car next year.
• We are hoping against hope.

Mop and mope

Mop / mopping / mopped

Mope / moping / moped

To mope is to sulk, languish, lament

• Stop moping and perk up.

To mop is to soak up by wiping.

Scrap and scrape

Scrap / scrapping / scrapped

Scrape / scraping / scraped

A scrap is a small piece or fragment.

• There was not a scrap of evidence against him.
• She threw scraps of bread to the birds.

To scrap is to abandon something.

• We have decided to scrap the old car.

Scrape

To scrape is to rub hard, bruise or clean by rubbing hard.

• I rented a machine to scrape the paint off the furniture.
• I slipped and scraped a knee.

Exercise

Select the word from the ones given in brackets and then supply the appropriate form of that word to fill in the blanks in each of the following sentences.

1. The plants are …………………. (die / dye). They need more sunlight.

2. She …………………. (mop / mopes) the floor every day.

3. I was ………………. (hope / hop) that I would win the first prize.

4. The kangaroo ………………….. (hope / hop) across the field.

5. They ……………….. (scrap / scrape) the old car and bought a new one.

6. It took me two hours to ……………………. (scrap / scrape) out the paint.

7. I am going grey. I must ………………. (die / dye) my hair.

Answers

1. The plants are dying. They need more sunlight.

2. She mops the floor every day.

3. I was hoping that I would win the first prize.

4. The kangaroo hopped across the field.

5. They scrapped the old car and bought a new one.

6. It took me two hours to scrape out the paint.

7. I am going grey. I must dye my hair.