Homophone (ho·​mo·​phone)

Definition of Homophone

1. one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling (such as the words to, too, and two)

2: a character or group of characters pronounced the same as another character or group

What is a Homophone?

A homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another word but with a different meaning, and possibly a different spelling as well. Two homophones may be spelled the same, as in rose (flower) and rose (past tense of rise), or differently, as in rain, reign, and rein.

A homophone can also apply to units longer or shorter than words, like as phrases, letters, or groups of letters, which are pronounced the same as another phrase, letter, or group of letters. Any unit with this property is said to be “homophonous”.

20 Common Homophones

1. Bawl/ball: The boy began to bawl, when the ball hit him in the face
2. Brake/break: If you don’t brake in time, you could break your car’s headlight.
3. Daze/days: She was in a daze for days after she hit her head.
4. Cheap/cheep: The cheap bird in the pet shop began to cheep.
5. Choose/chews: I am going to choose the lemon chews.
6. Flee/flea: The dog wanted to flee from the flea that was biting it.
7. Flour/flower: You need flour as an ingredient to bake a cake that has a flower on top as a decoration.
8. For/four: You might have four blankets that you use for staying warm.
9. Hour/our: There is one hour until our dinner is ready to eat.
10. Not/knot: A lot of people still do not know how to tie a knot.
11. Male/mail: The postman who was male delivered the mail.
12. Won/one: The girl won only one race.
13. Pair/pear: The pair of children picked a pear each off the tree.
14. Peek/peak: From the path, you can get a peek at the peak of the mountain.
15. Right/write: They say there is no right way to write a great book — but it helps to have good grammar!
16. Sell/cell: If you sell stolen goods, you may end up in a prison cell.
17. Son/sun: Parents will want to keep their son out of the sun between 10 am and 4 pm in the summer.
18. Steel/steal: Some tools are made from steel, which some dishonest people choose to steal.
19. Two/To/Too: Two children went to the park and their dog went too.
20. Whether/weather: Unless you check the forecast, you might not know whether the weather will turn nasty.