Homophones Examples: Pairs, Homonyms and Homographs

By Eduminate

Pastel desk scene with paired paper cups, wooden blocks and blank cards on a lilac background.

Homophones examples work best in pairs, because homophones are words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings. This guide gives a long list of pairs, separates homophones from homonyms, homographs and heteronyms, and ends with ways to practice.

Homophones examples

A homophone is a word that sounds exactly like another word but is spelled differently and means something different. Here are eight pairs, each word with a short meaning:

ate (past tense of eat) and eight (the number after seven)
blue (a color) and blew (past tense of blow)
hear (to notice a sound with your ears) and here (in this place)
meat (food from an animal) and meet (to come together with someone)
sea (a large body of salt water) and see (to notice with your eyes)
son (a male child of a parent) and sun (the star that lights our days)
right (correct, or the opposite of left) and write (to put words on paper)
sale (a time when things cost less) and sail (cloth that catches wind on a boat)

The spelling is the only clue that tells these words apart when you read them. That is why the context of the sentence matters so much. When a student is unsure which spelling to use, it helps to say the sentence aloud and ask what the word is doing in it.

List of homophones

This list of homophones has twenty-four pairs, grouped in lines of four. These are common homophones in standard American English:

buy and by, flour and flower, knew and new, know and no
made and maid, mail and male, one and won, pair and pear
peace and piece, plane and plain, role and roll, steal and steel
tail and tale, wait and weight, week and weak, wood and would
board and bored, cell and sell, die and dye, hole and whole
night and knight, pain and pane, creek and creak, heal and heel

Pick a few pairs at a time. Students can write a short sentence for each word to show that they know the difference in meaning. A good habit is to read each sentence aloud and check that the meaning matches the spelling.

Break vs brake and whether vs weather

Two pairs that students can swap are break and brake, and whether and weather. The sentences below show how each word is used.

Break vs brake

Break means to split into pieces or to stop for a rest. As a noun it can also mean a rest. A brake is the part of a vehicle that slows it down or stops it, and to brake means to slow down using that part.

Be careful not to break the glass jar.
We take a break after the story.
She pressed the brake on her bike.
The bus driver had to brake suddenly.

Whether vs weather

Whether means if. Weather describes what the air outside is like: rain, wind, sun, clouds and temperature.

I am not sure whether the library is open.
Tell me whether you want juice or milk.
The weather is cold and windy today.
We check the weather before we plan a picnic.

Homophones vs homonyms

People mix up these two words because they sound alike. Here is the usual way to separate them:

Homophones: same sound, different spelling, different meaning (sea and see).
Homonyms: same spelling and same sound, different meanings (bat, the wooden club, and bat, the flying mammal).

Some dictionaries and sources use the word homonym more widely, to include homophones and homographs as well. When you teach homophones vs homonyms, tell students which meaning your class will use.

Homonyms examples

Each word below is spelled and pronounced the same way in both meanings, but the meanings are different:

Bat: She swung the bat. A bat flew out of the cave.
Bark: The bark on the old tree was rough. The bark of the neighbor’s dog was loud.
Bank: We put the money in the bank. We sat on the bank of the river.
Match: He lit a match. Our team won the match.
Light: This bag is light. Please turn on the light.
Ring: She wears a gold ring. I heard the phone ring.

Here is a list of homonyms with ten words: bat, bark, bank, match, light, ring, spring, park, fair and date. A short sentence for each meaning is a good first assignment.

Homographs and heteronyms

Homographs are words that share the same spelling. Their meanings differ, and their pronunciations may or may not. All the homonyms above are also homographs. Heteronyms are the homographs that are pronounced differently. Here are homographs examples that are heteronyms:

Lead: with the vowel sound in seed, it means to guide. With the vowel sound in bed, it names a soft gray metal.
Tear: rhyming with fair, it means to rip. Rhyming with ear, it names a drop of water from the eye.
Wind: rhyming with pinned, it means moving air. Rhyming with signed, it means to turn something around.
Close: ending with a z sound, as in doze, it means to shut. Ending with an s sound, as in dose, it means near.
Live: rhyming with give, it means to be alive or to have a home somewhere. Rhyming with five, it describes something happening right now, like a live show.
Read: rhyming with seed, it means to look at words and understand them. Rhyming with red, it is the past tense of the same verb.

These words are a good reason to read a sentence to the end before deciding how to say a word. The sentence tells the reader which pronunciation to use: “I will read the book tonight” and “I read the book last night” are spelled the same way but sound different.

Homophones sentences

Use these eight homophones sentences for a quick check. Choose the right word for each blank. The answers are listed after the sentences.

The bridge is made of strong (steal / steel).
Please (wait / weight) for me at the door.
The (pain / pane) of glass in the window is cracked.
A (plane / plain) flew over the field.
I will (meat / meet) you at the library.
The letter came in the (mail / male).
She ate a juicy (pair / pear).
The (night / knight) sky was full of stars.

Answers: 1. steel, 2. wait, 3. pane, 4. plane, 5. meet, 6. mail, 7. pear, 8. night.

Homophones anchor chart

A homophones anchor chart can have three columns: the word, its meaning and a sentence. Each pair gets two rows. For example, one row reads “sea, a large body of salt water, We sailed across the sea,” and the next reads “see, to notice with your eyes, I can see the school from here.”

Add new pairs as the class meets them. Leave a column where students can put a memory trick next to the pairs that cause them the most trouble.

Ways to practice

Pair match

Write each word of a pair on its own card and mix the cards. Students find the partners and say one sentence for each word. They can lay the matched pairs out in rows to check against the list.

Sentence fix

Give students sentences with a wrong homophone in them, such as “We had to weight for the bus.” They circle the mistake and write the sentence again with the right word, which here is wait.

Draw and label with objects

Choose pairs where at least one word names an object, such as pear, plane, sail, steel and flower. Students draw the object only, with no people or animals, label it, and write the other word in the pair with its own meaning beside it.

Homophone bingo

Give each student a bingo card of homophones. Read a sentence aloud with a missing word, and students cover the correct spelling on the card. Check the covered words against the sentence together. The first student with a full row says each covered word in a sentence of their own to win.

Practice material

Some pairs have their own practice packs. Students who are ready can try the To Too Two Worksheet, a 43 page homophones worksheet for grades 3 to 6 that practices to, too and two. It has multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false and sentence writing, plus an answer key, answer sheet and lesson plan.

For there, their and they’re, the There Their They’re Worksheets set is for grades 4 to 8. It has multiple choice, fill in the blank, true or false and short answer sections, plus a lesson plan, answer sheet and teacher key. The post on there vs their vs they’re explains those three words in detail.

For its and it’s, the Its Vs It’s Grammar Worksheet is built for Grade 4 practice with contractions and possessive pronouns. It has 70 questions, a plain answer key, a detailed teacher key and a one page lesson plan. The post on apostrophe rules covers the apostrophe in contractions.

The Word Study Worksheets Bundle is for grades 2 to 7. It holds four word study packets: the prefixes un, re, pre and dis, the suffixes ful, less and ness, and two pairs students mix up all the time, its and it’s, and accept and except. It has 183 pages and is 20% off the separate prices.

All the grammar and ELA packets in the shop come together in the Complete Grammar Worksheets Bundle: 32 packets covering punctuation, nouns, verbs, word study, voice, reported speech, figurative language and the parts of speech. It has 1527 pages and is 35% off the separate prices.

Frequently asked questions

Are homophones and homonyms the same?

Not in the usual definition. Homophones sound the same but are spelled differently. Homonyms are spelled and sound the same but have different meanings. Some sources use homonym more widely, so check which meaning your book uses.

Is “read” a homophone?

The past tense of read sounds like the color red, so that pair is a set of homophones. The word read itself is also a heteronym, because the present tense and the past tense are spelled the same but pronounced differently.

Why does English have so many homophones?

English spelling often keeps older forms of words while the sounds have changed over time, and the language has taken in words from many other languages. Both of these are reasons that words with different spellings can end up sounding alike.

What grade learns homophones?

The packs mentioned here cover different ranges. The to, too and two set is for grades 3 to 6, the there, their and they’re set is for grades 4 to 8, the its and it’s worksheet is for Grade 4, the word study bundle is for grades 2 to 7, and the full grammar bundle covers grades 2 to 8.