Homophones

Today’s ESL blog post is all about homophones! Homophones are words that have the same sound as another word, but different meaning and spelling. For example, the words ‘rain’, ‘reign’ and ‘rein’ are homophones. The word ‘rain’ means the condensed moisture of the atmosphere falling visibly in separate drops. ‘Reign’ is to hold royal office, Lastly, ‘rein’ is a long, narrow strap attached at one end to a horse’s bit, typically used in pairs to guide or check a horse in riding or driving. Therefore, you can see that although each of the words are all pronounced the exact same, they all have different meanings!

Some of the most common homophones in the English language are:

There/ their/ they’re:

• There can act as different parts of speech, depending on how it is used in a sentence. Most commonly, it is used as a pronoun or adverb.
• Their is a pronoun
• They’re is the contraction for they are

Threw/ through:

• Threw is the past tense of the verb throw
• Through is used to say that you entered on one side of something and exited on the other.

For/ Four:

• For means with the object or purpose of when used as a preposition.
• Four means the number after three and before five when used as a noun.

Our/ are:

• Are is a verb in present tense, a form of the verb “to be.”
• Our is an adjective, the plural possessive form of we.

You’re/ your:

• • You’re s a contraction for you are.
  • Your is a pronoun.

Its/ it’s:

• • Its is the possessive form of it.
  • It’s is the contraction for it is.

To/too/two:

• • To is a preposition
  • Too is an adverb that can mean excessively when it precedes an adjective or adverb.
  • Two is a number.

Buy/by:

• • Use buy when purchasing an item
  • Use by as a preposition to indicate location

Weather/ whether:

• • Use weather when referring to the state of the atmosphere
  • Use whether as a conjunction to introduce choices.

Here/hear:

• • Use here as an adverb to indicate location
  • Use hear as a verb to indicate listening.