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🔊 Homophones

Words that sound the same but have different meanings (and often different spellings) — a common source of mistakes, even for confident speakers.

there  /  their  /  they're
there

in/at that place

their

belonging to them

they're

they are

to  /  too  /  two
to

in the direction of

too

also / excessively

two

the number 2

your  /  you're
your

belonging to you

you're

you are

its  /  it's
its

belonging to it

it's

it is / it has

whose  /  who's
whose

belonging to whom

who's

who is / who has

here  /  hear
here

in this place

hear

to notice sound with your ears

write  /  right
write

to put words on paper

right

correct / opposite of left

no  /  know
no

opposite of yes

know

to have information about something

new  /  knew
new

not old

knew

past tense of know

buy  /  by  /  bye
buy

to purchase something

by

next to / done by someone

bye

goodbye

sea  /  see
sea

a large body of salt water

see

to notice with your eyes

meat  /  meet
meat

animal flesh eaten as food

meet

to see and talk to someone

flower  /  flour
flower

the colourful part of a plant

flour

a powder used for baking

son  /  sun
son

a male child

sun

the star at the centre of our solar system

blue  /  blew
blue

a colour

blew

past tense of blow

eight  /  ate
eight

the number 8

ate

past tense of eat

wait  /  weight
wait

to stay until something happens

weight

how heavy something is

break  /  brake
break

to smash / a pause

brake

the part that stops a car

peace  /  piece
peace

calm, no conflict

piece

a part of something

plain  /  plane
plain

simple / a flat area of land

plane

an aircraft

mail  /  male
mail

letters and parcels

male

of the masculine sex

sale  /  sail
sale

when something is sold, often at a discount

sail

to travel by boat, or a boat's sheet of fabric

bare  /  bear
bare

uncovered/plain

bear

a large wild animal, or to tolerate

board  /  bored
board

a flat piece of wood, or to get on a vehicle

bored

feeling uninterested

hole  /  whole
hole

a gap or opening

whole

complete, entire

pair  /  pear
pair

a set of two

pear

a type of fruit

wear  /  where
wear

to have clothes on

where

in what place

weak  /  week
weak

not strong

week

a period of 7 days

cell  /  sell
cell

a small room, or a unit of a living thing

sell

to give something for money

steal  /  steel
steal

to take something illegally

steel

a strong metal