The English language is full of words that sound similar and mean similar things, but keep their own special place if we are to use them precisely. Who and who. Affect and effect. Sympathy and empathy. Extreme and supreme. And that is particularly annoying lay, lay, lay and lay. Another one that tends to trip people is the oh so similar next versus next.
Before we go any further, we should be aware that the reason you might be confusing these is because they have been confused and used interchangeably for so long that the water is quite cloudy. How Merriam-Webster mention, that:
The problem of distinguishing between Furthermore and further is reinforced by the fact that any of these words can be an adverb, adjective, or verb and have multiple meanings in some of these parts of speech. In certain cases it is good to use one on top of the other, in other cases there is some leeway, and in other cases it doesn’t matter which one you use. Welcome in English.
But we don’t have to get lost in the weeds too much here. Both words are used to indicate greater degrees of something. In most cases, the difference in choosing the right one is simple: keep using when referring to physical distance and keep using when referring to pictorial distance.
You ran further today than you did yesterday. Your parents live further away from you than your sister does. The road is blocked so you cannot go any further. However, you want to advance your career. We further illustrate the point here. Do we need to discuss this further?
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Whenever you need a trick to remembering which is which, keep in mind that it further relates to how far something is. Next refers to everything else.
