Just a few doors down from me is a shop that sells kids’ stuff, toys mostly. It used to sell food. One day I saw these strange SAIL signs in the window. SAIL? This is Timișoara. We’re a ten-hour drive from the sea here. Nobody is going anywhere in a sailing boat.
Then the next day I walked past again, and SAIL had magically become SALE. Somebody had probably told them to change the signs. No, it wasn’t me.
SAIL and SALE are what are known as homophones, two words that are spelt differently but sound exactly the same. There are loads of homophones in English. Another pair of homophones are HEAR and HERE. Sometimes you’ll even get three words that sound the same, like THEIR, THERE and THEY’RE, which even native speakers mix up from time to time.
Here are a few sentences where I’ve used the wrong homophones. All the words in bold should be a different word that is pronounced the same. See if you can correct these sentences:
- Are wee going the write weigh on this rode?
- Learning to reed English is a reel waist of thyme.
- The home teem one by too goals to won.
- It reigned all threw the knight.
- My sun kneads to cell his base guitar.
- I maid it to London in fore ours.
- The Prince of whales is the air to the thrown.
Good luck!