Homophones are pairs of words that sound the same, but have distinctly different meanings and different spellings. Understanding homophones is an essential part of mastering the English language, both for vocabulary building and spelling.
20 Common Homophone Pairs
- brake/break: When teaching my daughter how to drive, I told her if she didn’t hit the brake in time she would break the car’s side mirror.
- cell/sell: If you sell drugs, you will get arrested and end up in a prison cell.
- cent/scent: I won’t spend one cent on a bottle of perfume until I know that I love the scent.
- die/dye: If you accidentally drank a bottle of fabric dye, you might die.
- flour/flower: To bake a flower-shaped cake, you’ll need some flour.
- for/four: I purchased four new pairs of shoes for my upcoming vacation.
- heal/heel: If the heel breaks on your shoe, you might fall. However, your injuries will heal over time.
- hear/here: I wanted to sit here so I could hear the singer performing without any distractions.
- hour/our: We have one hour before our appointment with the real estate agent.
- idle/idol: Being idle makes me unhappy, but listening to my idol Taylor Swift makes me happy.
- knight/night: The knight is on his way to the castle, but traveling at night is very dangerous.
- knot/not: I do not know how she learned to tie the knot to make that necklace.
- poor/pour: I pour drinks at a bar every night. I am poor because I have too many bills and not enough money.
- right/write: There is no right way to write a great novel.
- sea/see: At my beach house, I love to wake up and see the sea.
- sole/soul: I need to get a new sole put on my favorite pair of running shoes. Jogging is good for my soul.
- son/sun: My son is 13 years old. He likes to spend time outside in the sun.
- steal/steel: Someone who decides to steal a car has committed a crime, but auto parts are made of steel.
- tail/tale: My cat was crazily chasing his tail while I read a fairy tale to my children.
- weather/whether: I don’t know whether to bring a jacket or not. The weather looks unpredictable today.