What are Homophones?
Homophones are two or more words that sound the same but differ in their meanings. The term “homophone” originates from the Greek words homo, meaning “same,” and phone, meaning “sound.” Here is an example of a homophone pair:
- He was very weak.
- She wanted to go home next week.
Both these words—weak and week—sound the same while pronounced, but they mean completely different things. Weak is an adjective that denotes a lack of strength, whereas a week (noun) is any period of seven consecutive days.
Homophones are often confused by writers and speakers because of their very nature. However, learning and understanding the meaning of these homophones help in their correct usage. Homophones are actually subsets of homonyms, which are discussed in detail in further sections. There are many homophones under food, color, number, and so on. Following are some that people are often confused about.
Commonly Confused Homophones
In the English language, homophones are often used incorrectly, changing the entire meaning of a sentence. Here are some popular pairs of homophones which, at times, people use interchangeably:
- Then/Than: Then is used as an adverb, a noun, or an adjective and indicates time. Than is a subordinating conjunction used to make comparisons.
- Back then, it was an island that was more beautiful than the rest.
- Compliment/Complement: Compliment refers to “saying something nice about someone or something.” Complement, on the other hand, is used for something that completes, makes perfect, or makes something whole.
- Sarah received a compliment on her dress.
- The blue balcony complemented the window.
- Affect/Effect: Affect indicates “influence,” whereas an effect is “a result of an action or change.”
- His education was affected by poverty.
- The tablets have no effect on him.
- You’re/your: You’re is a contraction for “you are.” Your is a pronoun and means “belonging to you.”
- You’re beautiful, but your dress isn’t.
- Accept/except: Accept is a verb that means “to take” or “receive.” Except is used as a preposition or conjunction to mean “but” or “exclude.”
- Mr. Smith has to accept the award.
- Everyone came to the party except Mr. Smith.
- Their/There: Their is the possessive form of the personal pronoun they; it means “belonging to them.” There is used to introduce a sentence or to indicate a location.
- There was a tribe here, but their habits were dangerous.
Other Examples of Homophones
- Whose/Who’s: Whose is a possessive pronoun, whereas who’s is a contraction of the phrases who is and who has.
- Bear/Bare: The word bear means “to endure” or “to be patient.” Bare is an adjective that means “without covering or clothing.” Bear is also an animal.
- Flour/Flower: Flower refers to “a bloom on a plant”; flour is a powder made from grains used in cooking.
- Whether/weather/wether: Whether is a conjunction and means “if”; weather is primarily a noun and refers to “the state of the atmosphere”; and wether is a male sheep or a goat.
Here is an additional list of some common homophones:
- Heir/hare/hair
- Whole/hole
- Buy/by/bye
- Prey/pray
- Principal/principle
- Sea/see
- Heal/heel
- Dessert/desert
- Waist/waste
- Break/brake
- Mail/male
All these words have varying spellings and meanings. However, some words in the English language have similar sounds and spellings but different meanings, or even the same spellings with different pronunciations. The following section discusses such words in detail.
Homonyms vs. Homophones vs. Homographs
Homographs are words having the exact same spelling but different meanings, whether they’re pronounced the same or not. In the case of same pronunciation, the key to the correct use of homographs is the context of the sentence. The word “homographs” comes from the Greek words for “same” (homo) and “to write” (graph). These words are written identically but don’t share a meaning. Here is an example:
- This tree has the largest bark.
- Their dog barks a lot.
Both barks have the same pronunciation and spellings but have different meanings and are well understood in the context of the sentence.
- He had tears in his eyes
- He tried to tear the paper.
In the above example, both words have the same spellings but differ in their meanings as well as pronunciations.
Homonyms are (two or more) words that have the same pronunciations and spellings but different meanings. The term “homonym” has a Greek origin—homo means “the same” and nym refers to “the name.” Homonyms can be both homographs and homophones. Here is an example:
- Time flies in the blink of an eye.
- Fruit flies kept hovering around.
Flies is a homonym here, having the same spelling and pronunciation but different meanings. In the first sentence, flies is a verb and means “to pass very quickly,” whereas, in the second sentence, it’s a noun referring to an insect. These are also homophones.
Homographs and homophones are actually subsets of homonyms. They are all taught in linguistics to improve reading and writing skills. These are also used in literature and poetry as a tool for wordplay and as puns in crosswords, puzzles, and word games. Thus, homophones are a big part of creative literature.
