Confusing English Words: Are You Working Hard or Hardly Working?
Learn the differences between common confusing words in English
3 min readOct 13, 2022
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In this short post, I’ll explain the differences between some common confusing / similar words in English, to help you to be able to use these terms more effectively in your English speaking or writing.
1. Hard / hardly
These are two words which sound very similar, but they have quite different meanings.
Hard - make a big effort
I work hard. (I make a big effort at work)
*Hard also means “difficult” in other contexts
Hardly — almost nothing
I hardly did any work this morning. (I did almost no work)