Homophones are pairs of words that sound the same, but have distinctly different meanings and different spellings. Understanding homophones is an essential part of mastering the English language, both for vocabulary building and spelling.
Homophones are often confused with homographs and homonyms. These terms are similar, but there are some important differences to consider.
Homographs are words which are spelled the same, but have different meanings and are not necessarily pronounced the same. One example is the word bow, which has several meanings pronounced two different ways, such as a weapon for shooting arrows, or to bend at the waist.
Homonyms are words with the same spelling and pronunciation, but different meanings, which means they are simultaneously homographs and homophones. Take for example the word band, meaning a group or a ring.
Homophones
Have you ever wondered which variation of the word “bear” to use in a sentence? “Bear” can mean to carry or it can mean to tolerate. The word “bare” sounds like “bear” but it is spelled differently and the two have different meanings. These tricky words and many others like them are members of a group of words called homophones.
(K12reader also offers free, printable homophone worksheets)
Homophones fall under the umbrella of the term homonyms. Homonyms is a broad term for words that sound or are spelled the same but have different meanings. Let’s take a closer look at homophones.
What Are Homophones?
Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but they have different meanings and are usually spelled differently as well. They usually occur in groups of two but sometimes they can be three or four in a group. It’s important to recognize and identify the most common homophones because the spelling can change the entire meaning of a sentence! Here is a list of the most common homophones.
Examples of Homophones
air, heir aisle, isle
ante-, anti- bare, bear, bear
be, bee brake, break
buy, by cell, sell
cent, scent cereal, serial
coarse, course complement, compliment
dam, damn dear, deer
die, dye eye, I
fair, fare fir, fur
flour, flower hair, hare
heal, heel hear, here
him, hymn hole, whole
hour, our idle, idol
in, inn knight, night
knot, not know, no
made, maid mail, male
meat, meet morning, mourning
none, nun oar, or
one, won pair, pear
peace piece plain, plane
poor, pour pray, prey
principal, principle profit, prophet
real, reel right, write
root, route sail, sale
sea, see seam, seem
sew, so, sow sight, site
shore, sure sole, soul
some sum son, sun
stair, stare stationary, stationery
steal, steel suite, sweet
tail, tale their, there
to, too, two toe, tow
waist, waste wait, weight
way, weigh weak, week
wear, where
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