📖Definition
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings or spellings, such as lesson and lessen. Homonyms are words with the same spelling or sound but different meanings.
Knowledge Required
Know common pairs and groups: their, there, they are; to, too, two; piece, peace; passed, past; loose, lose.
✅How To Answer
Ignore sound at first and focus on meaning.
Ask what the sentence needs. Is it a noun, verb, adjective or possessive word?
Substitute each option into the sentence and reject any that make the meaning wrong.
✏️Example
Choose the correct word to complete the sentence.
Today's ___ is about fractions.
lesson
✅Solution
A lesson is a period of teaching. Lessen means to reduce. The sentence is about teaching, so lesson is correct.
💡Multiple Choice Tip
Your ear can mislead you because the options may sound alike. Let the sentence meaning decide.
💡Tips/hints
Learn each tricky word with a tiny memory sentence, such as I hear with my ear or I ate eight cakes.
Check apostrophes carefully in words such as its and it's, whose and who's.