Homophones

Hello there and welcome back to another post. In this post, we’ll go through homophones in great detail. This article will teach you about homophones, their meanings, and the importance of using them with examples.

There are some confusing words in English that are pronounced same, but they have different meanings. These confusing words in a collective term are called as homophones. At some point, all of us have been confused with words like “their and there” and which one to use in the particular sentence. The words which have different spelling but pronounced the same are called as homophones.

Homophones fall under a broad category called as homonyms. Homonyms are a group of words that either sound alike or are spelled similarly, but the words have different meanings. It is subdivided into two different types groups: Homographs and homophones.   

Homographs are the words that have similar spelling, but pronunciation may differ.

Homophones are words that have the same pronunciation but different meanings.

What Are Homophones?

Homophones are a collective term used for a group of words that sound same. Homophones are words that have different meanings and spelling, but they are pronounced in the same way. Homophones occur in a group of two. However, there are certain cases where there can be three or four homophones together in a group. It is necessary two learn about some very common homophones and their use because the meaning of the entire sentence is changed with the use of a homophone.

For example “Flower” and “flour” are two different words that are pronounced the same way but it is very obvious one cannot make bread with a flower like “rose.” Similarly, there are words like peace & piece, meat & meet, or jeans & genes that are homophones. Both of the words are correct but are used in very different context.

In some cases, even the words are similar in spelling as well like rose (past tense of rise) & rose (flower) are both are spelled and pronounced same. But this is a very rare case. Usually, the words are different in spelling but same in pronunciation like carat, carrot, and caret.

Uses of Homophones

• Homophones are used in poetry and prose in English Literature for giving a rhythmic effect and to emphasize something.
• Homophones are also placed in a piece to form the multiplicity of meanings.

Importance of Learning Homophones

Learning homophones are very important as it can help an individual to avoid some very common and silly errors. Grammatical errors are one thing that usually gives a negative impression in every sphere of life, whether one person is talking to another in their first meeting, or in a job interview or even for college admissions.  So, learning homophones help us to avoid such errors. For example use of words like “you’re” and “your.”

Error in homophones is a sign of poor grammar and use of poor grammar in term papers, essays, competitions, and jobs give a bad impression to the person reading it even if the entire work is flawless.

Different types of Homophones

There are words that have similar spelling but different meanings. These types of words are called as homographs. For example rose (past tense of rise) and rose (flower), hail (ice storm) and hail (large numbers of something).

There are words that are pronounced same but have different meanings. These types of words are called as cite, sight, and site; to, too, two.

There are words that have different spellings, but same pronunciations are called heterographs. For example cell & sell; write & right.

There are certain types of homophones that have more than one word, or they have phrases that sound similar. These types of words or phrases are called as oronyms. For example a nice & ice; ice cream & I scream; carpet & car, pet.

There are homophones that are phonetically identical, but in the pair of the word, one out of the two words is not a real word. These words are called pseudo-homophones. For example: werk & work; groan & grone.

Use of Homophones in example sentences:

Handle the flower vase with care because it is made up of glass and it can break easily. (Shatter, crack)

Jennifer put her foot on the brake, and the car came to a screeching halt. (Car brakes)

The forest ranger warned the tourist to stay away from an injured grizzly bear in the jungle because of its dangerous and attacking nature. (animal)

No one should touch hot objects with bare hands. / The mother scolded her daughter for playing in the garden bare feet. (naked)

Henry is unable to bear the injustice happening in the office and warns to raise his voice. / Shelly is unable to bear the back pain any longer. (carry, tolerate)

Ana had to wait in the queue for very long to pay the electricity bill. (Long line)

The last cue of the treasure hunt was really confusing and tough to understand. / This is my cue to leave this place. (Clue, hint)

The fresh scent of lemon and green tea is really refreshing. (Smell)

It was rude of Tom to not give a single cent to the poor man even after requesting. (Money)

Cakes and bread are made up of flour. (Food ingredient)

Rebecca received many flower bouquets on her birthday. (Flower like rose, jasmine, etc.)

My trophies and prizes are really dear to me. (Precious, important)

The little girl saw many deer roaming around in the national park. (Animal)

Meat, fish, and eggs are a rich source of protein. (Food item)

The boss asked one of his employees to meet him in his office in 30 minutes. / The meet and greet were held on the weekends. (Get together)

This fruit salad is made up of apple, grapes, pear and many types of berries. (Type of fruit)

I want to buy a pair of diamond earrings on my birthday. (Set of two things used together)

Her son aims to become a doctor in the future.

In the summer season, the sun is blazing and burning in the sky, and the temperature rises rapidly. / The sun is about to set.

Katie went to Australia for a month.

Don’t be too late. / I heard the weird noise, too. / Me too!

The teacher asked two of his student to explain the entire lesson in the class.

This is a new television.

I knew she is going to be late for the meeting.

White is the sign of peace and harmony.

I want a piece of red velvet cake.

I want a piece of red velvet cake.

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