1. HOMONYMS
A HOMONYM IS A WORD THAT IS PRONOUNCED
THE SAME AS ANOTHER WORD WITH A
DIFFERENT MEANING.
WHEN THE WORDS HAVE THE SAME SPELLING,
T H E Y A R E K N OWN A S ‘ H O M O G R A P H S ’ .
WHEN THE WORDS HAVE DIFFERENT SPELLINGS
BUT DIFFERENT MEANING, THEY ARE KNOWN AS
‘ H O M O P H O N E S ’ .
2. ACCEPT (to receive) and EXCEPT (excluding)
AFFECT (to influence) and EFFECT (result)
THAN (a comparison) and THEN (shows time)
MALE (masculine person) and MAIL (postal delivery)
THERE (direction), THEIR (belongs to them) and THEY’RE (they
are)
TO (a preposition), TOO (an adverb) and TWO (a number)
BAND (a group) and BANNED (forbidden)
DIE (to be dead) and DYE (colouring agent)
YOUR (possessive pronoun) and YOU’RE (you are)
KNEAD (working bread dough) and NEED (must have)
SCENE (visual location) and SEEN (past tense of saw)
AD (advertisement) and ADD (addition)
EMIGRATE (to leave a country) and IMMIGRATE (to enter a country)
3. HOMOGRAPHS
These are words that have the same spelling but different meanings. Some
of the examples are as follows:
ACCENT: stress or emphasis
a manner of speaking or pronunciation
CONTENT: to be happy
all that is contained in something
LEAD: to go first with followers
a type of metal
MINUTE: 60 seconds
extremely small
4. HOMOPHONES
These are words with the same sound but different meanings and
spellings. Some of the examples are as follows:
AID/AIDE
AISLE/ISLE/I’LL
ALL TOGETHER/ ALTOGETHER
BASE/BASS
BE/BEE
BITE/BYTE
BLUE/BLEW
SEE/SEA
IDLE/IDOL