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# homophone

noun (a homophone, homophones)

«homophone» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. A homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and often a different spelling, like «there», «their» and «they're». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#m1)
2. Two or more such words are called homophones of each other. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#m2)

### In the lessons

In English and spelling lessons, homophones cause many spelling mistakes, so pupils learn pairs and groups: to/too/two, hear/here, see/sea, knight/night, write/right, bear/bare, peace/piece, which/witch, flour/flower. The meaning of the sentence tells you which spelling to choose. Homophones are also used in jokes and puns. Phrases: «a pair of homophones», «homophone mistakes», «choose the right homophone».

### Examples

- «Sea» and «see» are homophones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x1)
- «Two», «too» and «to» are a group of homophones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x2)
- I wrote «their» instead of «there» — a homophone mistake. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x3)
- The joke works because «knight» and «night» are homophones. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x4)
- Circle the correct homophone: The (bare/bear) ate the honey. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x5)
- Can you think of a homophone for «flour»? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x6)
- Spell checkers often miss homophone mistakes. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/#x7)

### Note

Do not mix up with «homograph» (same spelling, maybe different sound: a «bow» to tie, to «bow» your head) or «homonym» (a wider word for same-looking or same-sounding words). Homophones can depend on accent: «aunt/aren't» sound the same in much of England but not in the USA. Spell checkers do not catch them because each spelling is a real word.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «homophone» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/H/homophone/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«homophone» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/homophone.html) on Mova free.