Commonly confused words. (Editing).

We come across the misuse--or switching--of the words in the following pairs not in high school newspapers, but in professional publications produced by your colleagues. Take note.

* Home, hone. "The Senator honed in on his opponent's inconsistent stand on..." Make that home in on, as in, say, a homing pigeon. Hone means "to sharpen on a hone" and in the South "to yearn."

* Foreword, forward. Although we all know forward is an adverb, a noun in sports and finance, and a verb meaning "to send forward" and "to advance or play a mechanism," it's often mistakingly used in reference to the introductory pages of a book.

The New York Public Library Writer's Guide to Style and Usage offers this guide: "Remembering that the foreword means 'words that come in the front of the book, before the book itself begins' will help writers with this spelling confusable."

* Forego, forgo. To forego means to "go before or precede." To forgo means "to abstain from or do without."

* Precede, proceed. To precede means "to go before or in front of." Proceed means "to go forward or move ahead."

* Flaunt, flout. Flaunt means "to show off or proudly display something." Flout means "to scorn or ignore a convention or rule." The Writer's Guide gives this example: "Youth flaunts its belief in immortality by flouting the speed limit."