Their, there, they’re – don’t you worry about homophones
Sets of words that sound the same but have different spellings and meanings are known as Homophones. In the above example, an ant is an insect and your aunt is your Dad’s sister. They sound the same when you say them, but they mean very different things and they are written differently. The Transfer Tests will ask you to spot when the incorrect word from a set of homophones has been incorrectly used in a passage.
But weight wait – are these the same as Homonyms?
Homonyms are a subset of homophones but homonyms are words that are written and pronounced the same way but still have different meanings. Examples of homonyms are bark; the sound a dog makes and bark; the skin of a tree. These don’t tend to appear in the transfer test but you should probably know the definition in case it comes up in the GL test.
A final note – sometimes accents can have a bearing on what people consider homophones. Not all people might initially consider ate and eight to sound the same but in certain accents they can. Imagine someone with a broad local accent saying block (as in one made of concrete) and black (the colour) – they could sound very similar but you probably won’t see them on any list of homophones.
Have a go at our worksheet and best of luck.
Homophones Worksheet
Answers
Found this worksheet useful? Then why knot not tell your Facebook Friends?