Penurious vs Penitent

Penuriousadjective

not having enough money to pay for necessities

Full entry for Penurious

Penitentadjective

feeling or expressing remorse for misdeeds

Full entry for Penitent

The difference

Penurious means extremely poor, or miserly. Penitent means feeling regret for wrongdoing.

How to keep them apart

Penury is poverty; penitence is remorse. They share only the first four letters.

Other pairs worth knowing

All confused pairs · SAT list · GRE list · Full word list