Homophones: Commonly Confused Words

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

• Did you feel like you were repeating the same words over and over but still saying something different?
• Was it confusing?

That's exactly what homophones will do to you if you don't get them straightened out quickly!

Homophones are words that sound identical but are spelled differently and have different meanings. It's easy to get these words confused in your writing, but bee careful because if you do, your sentence will completely lose meaning.

• See what I mean?

Words like be and bee could get mixed up, causing your sentence to make absolutely no cents!

Pam and Jim

Start by taking a look at Pam and Jim above. Look at their conversation to see if you can start picking out the homophones.

A lot of people think wonder and wander are homophones, but they are not. They have different pronunciations, but they are commonly confused in writing. You can use the context clues above to tell what each word means.

Now, move on to some real homophones!

"I heard that a whole herd of witches lives down here," Pam replied. "You can't always believe what you hear," said Jim with a smile.

The first set is heard and herd. The two words sound the same when you say them, but they are spelled differently and mean different things. Heard is the past tense of the verb hear, and herd means a large group, usually of animals, like a herd of cows.

The second example is in this same exchange between Jim and Pam.

"I heard that a whole herd of witches lives down here," Pam replied. "You can't always believe what you hear," said Jim with a smile.

In this case, the word here is a noun pointing to a place, while hear means to take in sound with your ears.

Pick out a few more.

"You two had better get out of here. I don't know whether or not you'll make it with the weather that's coming!"

Here, whether is a conjunction that usually tags along with its fellow conjunction or, meaning she doesn't know how well they will do walking in the storm. Weather is a noun referring to the temperature, wind, rain, and so on.

OK, here's a fun favorite part.

"I...I think it was a witch!" Jim said, now squeezing Pam's hand. "Me too!" said Pam, "but, which witch, there are two over there!"

Which refers to an unknown noun in a question or a known object in a statement. On the other hand, witch is a scary woman with green skin, a broom, and a black hat. Or maybe you'd rather describe the good witches, like Glenda in The Wizard of Oz. Either way, they are made-up people, usually women, with magical powers.

Here is the last group of homophones.

"Me too!" said Pam, "but, which witch, there are two over there!"

Too is an adverb meaning also or as well. Two is the written form of the number 2.

There is one more set in the story above.

• Can you find it?

Here's a hint: Check the witches. I'll bet they're hovering very near!

To find the answer and for more practice, complete the Homophone Chart from Downloadable Resources in the right-hand sidebar!

When you are done, move to the Got It? section to play a game of concentration!