In English there are a number of words that share a pronunciation but have a different meaning. For example:
"I can see the sea."
In the above sentence see and sea have different spellings and meanings, but have the same pronunciation. They are examples of homophones.
Take a look at these ten sentences. Decide which is the correct word to complete the sentence. Each of the words have the same pronunciation.
Here's a quiz that uses easily confused words. Choose the correct missing word for each sentence.
Let's take a look at 5 pairs of words that English learners get confused by. Remember if you have a problem with any words or anything to do with the English language, you can post your questions on our forum and we'll try and answer them.
Both of these are positive adjectives.
'We took a taxi through New York.'
Let's take a look at two words which have the same pronunciation but different spellings and meanings. Try to remember these when you are writing in English:
'There goes your brother.'
English learners (and native English speakers) can get confused by these two words as they have the same pronunciation, but different spellings and meanings. Here's a review and a couple of hints to help you remember:
Their is a possessive adjective like 'her', 'his', or 'our'.
Its confusing, or it's confusing?
Do you know when we should use its and it’s?
The word it's is always used as a short form of it is.
‘It’s a red umbrella.’
Look - to look at something for a reason, with an intention.
Affect is a verb, although very rarely it can be used as a noun. Effect can be a verb or a noun, so it's to get them confused.
Try using them like this:
A thing that has happened.
'Watching his favourite team lose had little effect on Julian'.
To bring about change.
'We will effect changes to business policies from next year'.
