It’s a common scenario; people everywhere do it—maybe even you or your child.
You’re writing a note and are about to write the word peak. But wait! Your pencil poises midair: is it sneak peak? Or is it sneak peek? Now consider stationary and stationery; they are both pronounced the same, but which one means writing paper?
These sets of words are called homophones (or sometimes homonyms), and they can cause a lot of trouble for spellers.
Here are a few homophone pairs: deer and dear, billed and build, and sew, so, and sow.
Homophones occur in English because there are multiple ways to spell the same sound. For example:
Good question! Let’s look at homographs first.
Examples of common homographs include:
Here are some examples of homonyms:
You may have noticed that there is some overlap between the terms. For example, well and well can be categorized as both homographs AND homophones. And then there is added confusion because many people use the word homonyms when they are actually talking about homophones.
The easiest way to visualize the difference between these three terms is with a Venn diagram. Here’s a 30-second video that demonstrates the concepts.
Now that we’ve gotten the technical part out of the way, let’s see if we can help you and your children avoid homophone confusion!
First, let’s start with a list. There are LOTS of homophones. In fact, the list below contains more homophone pairs than you can shake a stick at! In order to make this list as useful as possible, words that are archaic, slang, naughty, or extremely uncommon have not been included.
Some words are homophones in some areas but not in others. For example, in certain parts of America, weather and whether are pronounced the same, but in other regions the WH in whether has retained a distinct /hw/ sound. The words acts and ax sound alike to most of us, but some people pronounce the T in acts.
Speakers in the U.S. pronounce due and do identically, but in most British accents those words are pronounced differently. The words boy and buoy have the same pronunciation in England (and therefore are homophones), but not in America.
You can be the final judge as to whether certain word pairs are homophones in your neck of the woods.
If your child struggles with spelling, concentrating on homophone pairs is one of the most confusing things you can do. Why is that? Think about it like this: imagine you met three new people this week.
Would it be easier to remember their names if you met them all at the same time? Or would their names be easier to remember if you met them at different times, under different circumstances? Most of us would agree that it would be easier to recall their names if the meetings were spaced out a bit.
Homophones are like that: meet them all at once and they get tangled up in your brain.
Trying to tackle a homophone pair like wait and weight in the same lesson can cause confusion where there shouldn’t be any. But this simple strategy can combat the confusion:
In the case of wait and weight, teach wait first. In the All About Spelling program, we teach words containing AI long before we teach words containing EIGH – and we do so very deliberately. The vowel team AI is a much more common spelling of the long A sound than EIGH, so wait is taught sooner in the program.
After teaching the word wait, we reinforce the teaching in multiple ways until the word is mastered:
And that leads us to my #1 tip for teaching homophones:
Let your student fully master the correct spelling and usage of wait before the homophone weight is introduced. By doing so, you greatly minimize the confusion and set your child up for success with homophones.
Another great way to minimize homophone confusion is to provide context for the words. When teaching the word sore, for example, you might share this interesting folk remedy:
If you have a sore throat, try this: spit into the mouth of a frog and your sore throat will be cured!
Now there’s something to talk about:
By the time the lesson is over, your child will be much more familiar with the meaning and spelling of this synonym for painful.
Of course, you can’t go into this much detail to teach every homophone, but even placing the word in a meaningful sentence goes a long way to provide clarity.
Homophones can be confusing, but they can also be fun! There are lots of ways to make learning about homophones enjoyable, such as using games, tongue twisters, graphic organizers, storybooks, and more. Check out the resources below!
Pique your child’s interest in homophones by sharing these riddles and puns. For example:
Q: What is a quick look at a mountaintop? A: A peak peek.
When a spelling word has a homophone, point it out to your student and have him add it to his own personal homophones list.
Help your child master the use of homophones the fun way!
All About Homophones gives you more than 240 pages of engaging homophone activities, homophone games, spelling resources, and teaching tools for more homophones than you can shake a stick at!
Play with our free Homophone Machine! Type in any word, sentence, or paragraph and click the Convert button to see the homophones. Try this one: “I would like to show you my new horse.” I think you’ll get a good chuckle!
Learn more about exploring words with the Homophone Machine!
And finally, here’s a shameless plug for my All About Spelling program…
All About Spelling incorporates all the tips you’ve read about in this article.
Beginning in Level 3, the All About Spelling program teaches homophones in a way that prevents homophone confusion.
Which pairs of homophones cause your child the most difficulty? Post in the comments below!
Judy Krige
says:Such a fun way to each this concept
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Judy!
Abubakarr Kamara
says:It awesome, it is really helpful
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad you found this helpful, Abubakarr!
Karrie
says:There is so much useful information here! I’m just getting started with this so I appreciate all your helpful tips.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad to hear you found this helpful, Karrie! But if you ever have any questions or need help, just ask.
Beth C
says:This is perfect! Just hit a lesson with a couple of kids and this really helps break it down for them. Thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this is helpful for you, Beth!
Grace
says:Thanks for sharing these!
manasa Bandari
says:Like it. Brief explanation.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceThank you, Manasa!
Rahila
says:Excellent way of explaining. Now I understand it better myself, it will be easier to explain to the kids too!
Deborah Bown
says:This was a great and timely article as my daughter has been encountering homophones in her spelling program. This article gave me many ideas of how to better help her learn these sometimes tricky words.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad you found this helpful, Deborah! Homophones can be tricky, so I hope these help. If you find you need more help, however, just let me know.
One other tip is often one of a pair of homophones is much more commonly used than the other. For example, we use “be” much more often than “bee.” It can help students to focus on the meaning of the less common word. It’s helpful to know to only use “bee” when meaning a buzzing insect and use “be” for every other meaning.
Sibrina Russell
says:I stumbled onto your site and am so excited to have these resources to help with my nieces and nephew! <3
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceGreat, Sibrina! I hope your nieces and nephew have lots of fun with this.
Kelly
says:I’m saving these downloads for the next time this comes up in our house!
Kelly
says:I felt like I was stumbling over trying to explain this to my kids. This is so helpful (and giving me more confidence to just trust the program!).
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was helpful for you, Kelly!
Jeanie Beeson
says:We haven’t had too much yet.
We are at level 2 referring back to level one as needed.
Very interesting and helpful blog as we move forward.
Charissa Deuser
says:This looks very cute but with great helpful information
Dorothy Boucher
says:Thank you for sharing this and very useful for sure.
Wylene
says:I love how easily you break this information down. Excited for my daughter to get to level 3 so we can dive deeper into understanding homophones.
Jordan
says:Very useful information. Thank you!
Casey
says:I was just discussing this with my nieces and had trouble trying to explain it properly. This is a great article.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceI’m glad this was timely, for you Casey!
Leanna McFarland
says:Very informative and fun presentation. Thanks!
Lynn Wise
says:My almost 7 year old thinks homophones are hilarious! Great tips!
bn100
says:helpful tips
Casey
says:Thanks for the tips! Love this program it has been a gift to our family.
Katie Stephens
says:You’re program is wonderful! It works great for our family!
Loreen G
says:Love and appreciate all the extra “helps” you give to help children with their learning. Thank you!
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re very welcome, Loreen!
Julia
says:I’m new to this curriculum and I’m excited to dive into all these helpful resources!
April J
says:Very useful information! Thank you!
Barb
says:Great tips and tricks to keep your kids on an easy path.
Jessica
says:Looking forward to incorporating more of these in our days!
Lauren Tetrick
says:Language is so fascinating! Thanks for sharing!
Dani W
says:My son has loved the book, Dear Deer, for a number of years. It is a fun read aloud for children to hear homophones used together. Looking forward to reach level 3.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceOooo, thank you for the book recommendation, Dani! I love the idea of exploring homophones with picture books.
Kate
says:This is really good information. My 2nd grader loves discovering homophones and homographs. She’s currently working on your and you’re.
Robin E.
says: Customer ServiceYou’re and your are so tricky that if your daughter masters them this young, she will be ahead of the curve, Kate!