Homophones

What are homophones?

Homophones are words that sound alike but are different in spelling, meaning or origin. An example of a pair of homophones is blew and blue. Another example is write, wright, and right.

• The wind blew.
  • In this sentence blew means that the wind moved.
• The water in the pool is very blue.
  • In this sentence blue is the color of the water.
• I need to write the answers on the test.
  • In this sentence write means to form letters on the surface of some material using a pencil.
• The shipwright fixed the hole in the side of the boat.
  • In this sentence a wright is someone who constructs or fixes something.
• Turn right at the end of the hall to get to our room.
  • In this sentence right is a direction.

Here are a few very common homophones.

Homophones	Examples
here hear	Please come over here and sit by me. Can you hear the noise from the train?
hour our	There are 60 minutes in one hour. This is our classroom.
new knew	My mother bought me a new pair of jeans. I knew the answers to all the questions on the test.
one won	There was only one puppy left to sell. The class won the Math challenge.
piece peace	I found a large piece of gold in the stream. Many people would rather have peace than war.
they're their there	They're all going to go to the movies tonight. Their pet bird is very noisy. The school is over there on Main Street.
to too two	She is going to school. I want to go too!  (It is another way to say as well or also.) Two pieces of paper should be enough for the test.
whether weather	I don't know whether to go to the party or stay home tonight. The weather will be sunny and warm for recess today.
which witch	Which pair of shoes do you want? The Halloween witch was scary.
would wood	Would you like to go for a walk?. The house is made out of wood.

Now it's time to show what you know.  You can practice by completing the activity at this link.  Click on the green button that has Play the Game written on it, click on the How to Play button to learn the rules, click Start, choose a level, and see how many tries it takes to match all of the words.  You may do this activity two times. 

When you are finished, complete the worksheet in your folder.  Return it to your folder when you are finished.

• 8000 Quantico Road Hebron MD 21830
• Phone: (410) 677-5118