Homophones

"My father taught me how to sail a boat."

"There's a great sale on in the department store."

Sail and sale have the same pronunciation although they are spelled in different ways – and have different meanings.

Homophones are tricky especially when you are writing. As long as you have spelled the word correctly, your computer's spell-check will not let you know there is a mistake eventhough you have used a word out of context. For example, can you see what is wrong with this sentence?

"I thought you new it was John's birthday."

New is used in the wrong context. The correct word is knew, which sounds the same as new.

If you write in English for business or academic reasons, it is important to know homophones. Choose the correct word in these example sentences:

• 1 - The lamp is heavy at the ___.
  
  base
  bass
  
  
• 2 - I don't remember going ___ before.
  
  there
  their
  
  
• 3 - The walls are ___, you should put up some pictures.
  
  bare
  bear
  
  
• 4 - The wind __ the papers off the table.
  
  blew
  blue
  
  
• 5 - She kicked the ball ___ the window.
  
  threw
  through
  
  
• 6 - You will ___ unless you put a coat on.
  
  freeze
  frees
  
  
• 7 - I think you did a ___ job of painting the room.
  
  fair
  fare
  
  
• 8 - ___ the only person here from Russia.
  
  Your
  You're
  
  
• 9 - If there's enough ___ left we can make a cake.
  
  flour
  flower
  
  
• 10 - Write it down on a ___ of paper.
  
  peace
  piece
  
  
• 11 - Have you ___ today's newspaper yet?
  
  red
  read
  
  
• 12 - You have to push the ___ pedal hard on my car.
  
  break
  brake
  
  
• 13 - I don't think that is the ___ answer, please check it again.
  
  right
  write