Mastering Homonyms Educational Resources K12 Learning, Grammar, Writing, English / Language Arts Lesson Plans, Activities, Experiments, Homeschool Help

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

Knowing your grammar and word usage with total confidence gives you piece of mind, right?

I certainly hope not!

exploding brain

Keep all the pieces of your mind in one piece, for everyone's peace and happiness! Please!

See what happened there?

In one quick grammar slip, you started dividing up your brain! That's probably not the best idea…

If you truly want peace of mind when it comes to your grammar and word usage, then this homonym lesson is for you!

Piece and peace are homonyms.

What are homonyms?

Watch the video below for a fun introduction.

Homonyms include both homographs AND homophones.

It's like calling a verb or noun a word. Whether a verb or a noun, it is still a word. Whether it is a homograph or homophone, it is still a homonym.

Homographs are words with the same spelling but multiple meanings.

homograph	meaning	homograph	meaning
duck	squat down	duck	bird
bat	stick to hit ball	bat	flying animal
cool	temperature	cool	favorable
fall	season	fall	the action

Homophones are words that have the same sounds but different spellings and meanings.

homophone	meaning	homophone	meaning
write	a letter	right	correct
seam	in sewing	seem	to appear
profit	gain	prophet	divine
scene	location	seen	viewed

Before going too far, examine your understanding of homographs and homophones.

thinking woman

The sentence below contains two HOMOGRAPHS. Remember, those words sound AND are spelled the same BUT have multiple meanings.

Choose the correct meaning for each homograph.

So, homographs sound alike AND are spelled the same BUT have different meanings. And homophones are words that also sound alike but are NOT spelled the same, AND they also have different meanings.

confused cartoon

I don't know about you, but the whole thing sounds confusing.

Right?

It might be simpler to learn than you think. That sentence even uses a homograph.

Can you guess which word it is?

Well can be a deep hole where you pull water up with a bucket, or it can be used as an exclamation, as you see here, or it can mean a state of being, such as asking someone if they feel well.

There's even a homophone in the sentence before that. There are homonyms everywhere!

Move on to the Got It? section to practice identifying and using homographs and homophones in real-life situations.