1. averse 和adverse
averse : not liking sth; opposed to sth 不喜欢某事物; 反对某事物
e.g. He seems to be averse to hard work
adverse: not favorable; contrary; hostile 敌对的，反对的，不利的
e.g. His health was adversely affected by the climate.
2. adversity和adversary
adversity: trouble; unfortunate event 不幸，灾祸
e.g. Mary faces adversity with courage
adversary: opponent; enemy 对手，敌人
e.g. He defeated his old adversary in the election.
第1、2组词是经常被同学们混淆的四个单词，在这里两两组合进行对比，希望对同学们会有帮助。
3. antipathy 和apathy
antipathy: strong or deep dislike 反感; 厌恶; 憎恶
e.g. He showed a marked antipathy to foreigners.
apathy: lack of interest; indifference 缺乏兴趣;漠不关心
e.g. My parents do not feel apathy about the election.
这一组词大家可以用词根词缀发来区别, path-作为词根是“情感”的意思，anti-作为前缀是“相反，对抗”，而 a- 是“不、无、非”的意思，相关单词有 sympathy, empathy等
4. derive—derivative 和deride—derisive
derive: originate from sth; get sth from sth 源自，源于;得到获取
e.g. Thousands of English words derive from Latin.
deride: mock sb/sth 嘲笑，嘲弄
e.g. They derided his effort as childish.
derisive 这个单词出现在阅读中经常被同学当做是derive 的形容词性理解，其实是deride的形容词，意思为“嘲笑的，嘲弄的”，例如derisive laughter
5.exhausted 和exhaustive
exhausted: very tired 精疲力尽的
e.g. After a ten-mile hike, everybody is exhausted
exhaustive: very thorough; complete 详尽的;彻底的
e.g. Police make an exhaustive research.
6. imprudent 和impudent
imprudent: not wise or discreet不智的; 不谨慎的;轻率的
e.g. It would be imprudent (of you) to resign from your present job before you are offered another.
impudent: very rude and disrespectful 粗鲁的; 放肆的; 无礼的; 不尊重的
e.g. Tom is an impudent child who never listens to his parents.
在记这组词之前，同学们先记住prudent这个单词，它本身就是“谨慎的，审慎的”意思，在其加上im- 这个表否定含义的前缀，意思就很容易得出了。
7. callow 和callous
callow: immature and inexperienced 既不成熟又无经验的; 乳臭未乾的
callous: cruelly insensitive or unsympathetic 冷酷无情的; 无同情心的
8. congenial 和congenital
congenial: (of people) pleasing because of similarities in temperament, interests, etc ;agreeable(指人)(因性情﹑ 志趣等相近)彼此合得来的, 意气相投的;适合自己性格的
e.g. I find this aspect of my job particularly congenial.
congenital: (of diseases, etc) present from or before birth (指疾病等)天生的, 先天的
e.g. We should not deride people who have congenital defects.
9. intelligent 和intelligible
intelligent: smart, educated 聪明的，智能的，智力的
intelligible：that can be (easily) understood 可(易)理解的
e.g. That’s totally a muddled explanation which was scarcely intelligible.
10. impassive 和impassioned
impassive: showing no sign of feeling 无表情的，无动于衷的
e.g. The accused sat impassively as the judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.
impassioned: showing strong deep feeling 充满激情的; 热烈的
e.g. He made an impassioned plea for mercy.
同第3组词相似的地方是这一组词里面含有pass-表“情感”含义的词根，im-表“不无、非”，所以impassive就是“无表情的，无动于衷的”意思。而后者中含有的“passion”其本身就是“激情，热情”的意思。
11. adapt 和adept
adapt: make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc; modify sth 使某事物适合於新的用途﹑ 情况等; 修改某事物
e.g. These styles can be adapted to suit individual tastes.
adept: expert or skilful in (doing) sth 对(做)某事物内行的, 熟练的
e.g. She's adept at growing roses.
这一组词中adapt也经常容易与adopt混淆，adopt意思为“采纳，收养”。
12. indigent 和indigenous
indigent : poor 贫穷
indigenous: native 土生土长的，当地的
e.g. Kangaroos are indigenousto Australia.
13. presumptive 和presumptuous
presumptive: based on reasonable belief; probable基於合理之推测的; 可能的
e.g. It is absurd that he was sentenced to death based on presumptive evidence.
presumptuous: too bold or self-confident 胆大妄为的，专横的
e.g. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask you to contribute?
14. ingenious 和ingenuous
ingenious: (of a person) clever at finding new or simple solutions for complex problems; original in design(指人)善於用新 的或简单的方法解决复杂问题的;设计独特精巧的
e.g. So you fitted that wire through that little hole there: that's very ingenious!
ingenuous: open, innocent 坦率的，不隐瞒的，天真的
e.g. That kid gives me an ingenuous smile.
这一组词，同学们可以利用另外两个单词帮助记忆，genius 和genuine,前者意思为“天才”后者意思为“真的，真诚的，非人造的”。ingenious 从发音和词形上与genius相近，而ingenuous 和genuine 相近。
15. discreet 和discrete
discrete: separate; distinct 分离的; 截然分开的
e.g. Those are a series of discrete events.
discreet: careful or showing good judgment in what one says or does; not too obvious 言谈举止谨慎的; 言行审慎的; 不显眼的
e.g. I should make a few discreet enquires about the firm before you sign anything.
以上是给同学们简单分析的15组形近词，希望对大家的学习单词方面有所帮助。同时也建议同学们以后如果碰到形近词，可以学着用词根词缀，单词联想、理解英文释义等方式将它们分辨清楚。
