Homophones: Seek and destroy

Homophones are those annoying words that sound exactly alike but have different meanings and are often spelled differently.

They give English teachers nightmares, cause headaches in students, and drive editors crazy.

We writers need to be diligent about homophones because spell-check won’t catch them, and many readers cite misspelled homophones as pet peeves.

And we never want to annoy our readers! That’s a cardinal sin. 

Homophones and Spell Check

The problem with most homophones is that if we’re typing too quickly or not paying close attention to what we’re writing, we could accidently end up with a properly spelled word, except it’s the wrong word. It doesn’t work in the context of the sentence.

As an example, let’s look at the homophones affect vs. effect. If you’re in a hurry or if you’re not fully concentrating on the task at hand, you could easily mistype the first letter of either of those words and end up with something like the following:

• That movie had great special affects. (wrong: it should be special effects)
• That movie effected me deeply. (wrong: it should be affected)

In the examples above, just one little letter was mistyped in each sentence. Typos like these happen all the time. That’s why we run spell check and proofread our work. But since both affects and effected in the examples above are correct spellings, a program like Word won’t catch them. In other words, spell check cannot check to see if you are using words correctly.

Homophone Check

Wouldn’t it be cool if the built-in spell check on the world’s most popular word processing software had a homophone filter? It would work like the find feature, except it would point out all the words in your document that can be classified as homophones.

As far as I know, no such filter exists (at least not in the software I use, which is pretty much industry standard). So writers and editors have to look for these nagging little typos organically – which is to say we have to proofread our texts closely.

The funny thing about homophones is that they are rarely misspelled because the writer doesn’t know the correct usage but because the writer made a typo and then missed that typo during proofreading and editing (or failed to proofread and edit altogether).

Personally, I find that if a typo slips past my editing eyes, it’s almost always a homophone. And it drives me crazy.

How do you feel when you find that you’ve misspelled homophones in a piece of writing or a published blog post? Do these words give you more trouble in editing than other words? Got any tips for catching misspelled homophones? Please share by leaving a comment. And keep on writing!

Since homophones sound the same, they are often misspelled. Sometimes they’re misspelled because the writer doesn’t know there are two different spellings. In other cases, misspelled homophones are the result of typing too fast or failing to proofread carefully. Spell check won’t catch these kinds of typos because the spelling is legitimate, but it’s for a word with a different meaning. Most automated spelling and grammar checking programs don’t assess context.

To make it easier to remember which spelling goes with which meaning, we can use mnemonic devices, which are memory tricks. Today, we’re going to learn how to remember the difference between the homophones compliment and complement.

Homophones: Compliment and Complement

The meanings of these two words are fairly similar. However, there is a difference.

Compliment

Complement

Got Homophones?

Homophones can be confusing, but by using mnemonic devices, it’s pretty easy to remember which spelling to use. Do homophones ever give you headaches? Are there any specific homophones that either confuse you or annoy you when you see them misspelled? Share you thoughts by leaving a comment!

And keep on writing…

The result is an onslaught of misspellings throughout the written universe. Although these mistakes are understandable, they are problematic since they are contagious. If someone sees a set of homophones used incorrectly or misspelled  enough times, they will assume the usage is correct and adopt it.

Thus, the errors spread.

Ideally, we’d just make sure that our language doesn’t contain these types of words. I’m sure we are creative enough to come up with completely new words, but unfortunately, language evolves of its own accord, so we must make do with what we have.

Today, we’ll look at two sets of homophones that have connections to music. The first set of homophones is bass and base. The second is chord and cord. For the purposes of this article, we’re going to use only common definitions of these homophones.

Homophones: Bass and Base

Both words, bass and base, rhyme with the following words: ace, face, lace, and race, to name a few.

Bass

In music, there’s a word that’s generally used in lieu of the word low. That word is bass. There’s a bass clef, a bass guitar, and even bass speakers, which make cars go boom. All of these indicate sound that is low in tone. As you can see, this word can function as both a noun and adjective:

• On piano, the left hand plays the bass clef while the right hand plays the treble clef. (adjective)
• Charlie Pace played the bass. (noun)
• Those bass speakers are too loud!  (adjective)

It’s not a fish! Bass is an odd word because it looks like it should be pronounced to rhyme with class. Actually, when referring to fish, it is pronounced that way. Just remember when talking about sound and music, it’s spelled b-a-s-s and the a is a hard vowel.

Base

This word is not nearly as fun, even though it sounds just like bass. Its meaning usually indicates the bottom or core of something. It can also mean that from which something comes. This versatile word can function as a noun, adjective, or verb.

• The base ingredient is flour.  (adjective)
• It looked like a home run but he only got to third base.  (noun)
• We don’t base our opinions on falsehoods.  (verb)

Homophones: Chord and Cord

Chord

In music, when you play three or more notes simultaneously, that’s a chord. The word chord is also used to refer to emotion.

• Can you play a C chord on the guitar?
• That episode really struck a chord with me.

Cord

You know that thing that connects your computer to the wall? That’s a cord. The same word refers to lengths of string or thin rope, such as the drawstring cord in the waistband of your sweatpants. A cord can also be a unit of volume. This word is a noun.

• Can you plug this cord into the wall?
• Tie it with a cord!
• I just ordered a cord of firewood.

Mastering Homophones

Many people struggle with homophones, but they’re actually pretty easy to learn if you just take the time. If there are any homophones that cause you grief, either because you can’t seem to remember which is which or because when you see them misused, your peeve meter goes into overdrive, then leave a comment telling us all about it.

But I try not to get too riled up. I know that spelling isn’t easy for everyone. However, I do believe that with a little effort, anyone can learn the proper spelling of a word.

I also realize that homophones present a special challenge because when two words sound exactly alike but are spelled differently, we have to work a little harder to remember which spelling goes with which definition.

Homophones

Homophones are words that are pronounced the same but have different spellings and different meanings. These confusing words have instigated many headaches among writers, editors, and readers as well as the general population.

Some homophones are easier to master than others. Luckily, today, one of our homophones has an easy, built-in way to remember what it means and how it’s spelled.

To learn more about homophones in general and to find out about other word groups with similar pronunciations and confusing spellings, read Homophones, Homonyms, and Homographs.

Hear and Here

The words “hear” and “here” have similar spellings and are pronounced exactly the same, but they have very different meanings. According to dictionary.com, here are the basic definitions of these homophones:

Hear (verb) – to perceive by the ear. I hear music.

Here (adverb) – in this place; in this spot or locality (as opposed to there). You are there and I am here.

Once you know what these words mean and that they have completely different definitions, all you have to do is find a way to remember when to use them properly in context. To do that, focus on the word “hear.” Take a close look at it and you’ll see that “hear” is simply the word “ear” with the letter h in front of it. And since you hear with your ear(s), it shouldn’t be difficult to remember that when you’re using the word “hear” in reference to listening or taking in sounds, you should use the spelling that has the word “ear” embedded in it.

Past Tense of Hear

The word “hear” is a bonus homophone because its past tense, “heard,” is also a homophone in its own right. Don’t confuse “heard” (as in I heard that song yesterday) with “herd” (as in Did you see that herd of buffalo?). Again, just remember that if it’s related to listening, it should have the word “ear” within its spelling.

Mastering Homophones

Do you have any tricks you use to remember the difference between “hear” and “here?” Are there any other homophones that give you trouble? Share your tips and questions by leaving a comment.

Homophones

There are lots of tricks available, which will help you differentiate between homophones. In some cases, you can use mnemonics to remember which spelling to use. In other cases, you just have to memorize the words, their meanings, and their spellings.

In any case, it helps to understand the structure of language so that you can more easily recognize words and how to use them properly.

For example, knowing how to diagram a sentence and being able to identify parts of speech will give you an advantage when it comes to telling the difference between homophones.

Weather and Whether

The words weather and whether are typical homophones and especially confusing ones. They sound exactly alike and are spelled quite similarly. A third, incorrect spelling often appears, which is a combination of the two spellings (wheather). Luckily, they have vastly different meanings and there are some tricks we can use to remember all of them.

Wheather is NOT a word

It would make perfect sense if the spelling w-h-e-a-t-h-e-r was used for the word that refers to the climate outdoors because embedded in that spelling is the word heat. Unfortunately, this spelling simply does not exist. There is no heat. So if you’re using either of these homophones, remember that the letter string h-e-a-t should not appear. No heat.

Weather

This word is a NOUN and it deals with sunshine and storms. It may not be 100% tangible but we can certainly feel the weather on our skin when we step outside.

Ever notice that the weather affects your appetite? On cold days soup sounds tasty and hot days, nothing hits the spot like an ice cream or an icy slush. Yes, the weather may help you decide what to eat. Notice that the word eat is conveniently buried inside the word weather.

Whether

This word is a conjunction, close relative of the famous and, or, but, and yet, and it’s often used to determine something: tell me whether or not you’ve finished this blog post.

Using the phrase whether he writes or not, we can form a mnemonic device that will help us remember how to spell this conjunction.

You see, the only difference in spelling between the two homophones weather and whether is that after the w, one has the letters ea and the other has the letters he. As I’m sure you realize, he is an actual word (ea is not, in case you were wondering).

If you can remember the phrase, whether he writes or not, you can easily recall that whether, which is a conjunction, has he within its spelling. Say it over and over: whether he, whether he, whether he. You’ll have it memorized in no time.

More Homophones

Got any tips you’d like to add for remembering how to tell the difference between these homophones? Have a grammar question of your own or a set of homphones that give you aches and pains? Leave a comment!