Grammar

Homophone quizzes

Oxford Dictionaries Online define homophones as "each of two or more words having the same pronunciation but different meanings, origins, or spelling". But in these exercises, we are only interested in when two (or more) words sound the same but are written differently and have different meanings. Remember that some spellings, such as read, bow can have more than one pronunciation.

Try these two exercises, the first based on a bank of over 300 homophones.

Part 1

Two dictionaries

The Macmillan Dictionary is very good for seeing how common words are as they give words a star rating from 0-3 stars, based on their frequency. I've used The Oxford Advances Learner's Dictionary for definitions, however, as the search facility is better, especially with things like past forms and plurals. (see links below)

Note

Remember that homophones include things like past forms and plurals

Options

You can choose between one syllable, two syllable and multiple homophones (three or more words).
Level of difficulty is based on the words' star ratings at the Macmillan Online Dictionary. Or the program can show all the homophones in each list.
The list will be automatically randomised. To see them in alphabetical order, uncheck "Randomised".
When you select "Do easier", the less common word will be shown, when you select "Do harder", the more common word will be shown. (in some sets both words are equally common, so there will be no change)
Clicking on the word shown will bring uo a dic\tionary definition at the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
You can find the answers after the exercises

Exercise 1
Select type of homophone and level of difficulty, then enter suitable homophones. Check your answers before going on to the next set.

Type of homophone Level Do Randomised

part 2

Exercise 2
Each sentence contains one word that is wrongly spelt. Write the correct words into the boxes.

Randomised

Answers

Four candles comedy sketch - the humour in this sketch is largely based on homophones.

Links

English Club
BBC Game
Wikipedia

Lists of homophones

Homophone.com
Homophone Check
BiForest

Dictionaries used

Macmillan Dictionary
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

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Grammar