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< Homographs, Homophones, & Homonyms

Homographs, Homophones, & Homonyms: Homographs, Homophones, and Homonyms #1

Dennis Oliver

One thing that sometimes makes English spelling and pronunciation very
challenging is often-confused words called homophones, homonyms,
and homographs.

Homophones are two or more words with the same pronunciation but
different spellings, meanings, or origins. Here are a few very
common examples:

homophones pronunciation meanings

ail

ale

 [ éil ]

be sick

a kind of alcoholic drink

brake

break

 [ bréik ]

stop by using a brake

shatter; disconnect;
free time

close

clothes

[ klóuz ]

clothes

opposite of open

apparel; things to wear

doe

do


dough

 [ dóu ]

female deer or rabbit

first note of the musical scale (do, re, mi, fa . . .)

mixture of flour, water, etc. used for making bread

aye


eye

I

 [ ái ]

yes (in the navy and
in meetings)

you see with it

first person singular

feat


feet

 [ fíyt ]

accomplishment or
achievement

plural of foot

hay


hey

 [ héi ]

dried grass used to
feed animals

informal word used to
get someone's attention

in

inn

 [ I n ]

within; inside

small hotel

leased

least

 [ líyst ]

rented

superlative of less

mail

male

 [ méil ]

letters, packages, etc.

opposite of female

pain

pane

 [ péin ]

ache

piece of glass in a window

rain

reign

rein

 [ réin ]

kind of precipitation

rule, govern (formal)

thin piece of leather
used to control a horse

sane


seine

 [ séin ]

showing good mental
judgment; not "crazy"

fishing net

to

too

two

 [ túw ]

toward

also; "negative very"

one plus one
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