Shana's Guide on Homonyms

Yeah. I know that this looks like a complicated word, but let's look at it a little closer. The word "homo" means the same. That should help out a bit. Homonyms are the source of SO many mistakes in writing. So what are they? Let's take a closer look. We can break down Homonyms into two main areas of discussion. These two are homophones and homographs.

Homophones: Once again, the prefix "homo" means same, or alike. So a Homophone is a word that is pronounced the same as another, yet has a different meaning. Here's the two major examples that easily give writers the most difficulty.

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To, two, and too: All three of these words are homophones. They sound the same, yet have different meanings. To understand this fully, we'll look at the definitions of these words.

Two: A numerical value (Ex: She held two apples.)
Too: Also (Ex: She held an apple too.)
To: A word used to express motion or direction to a person, place, or thing. (Ex: She took the apple to the store.)

There, their, and they're: Again. These are homophones. Let's look at the meanings.

There: expresses a location in or at that place. (Ex: She took the apple over there.)
Their: Expresses possession. (Ex: Their apples are the best I've ever tasted.)
They're: A conjunction of the words 'they' and 'are.' (Ex: They're going to the store to buy some apples.)

Make sure you use the write right word! Don't get tricked by homophones!

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Homographs: These are seen a lot less often than homophones. Basically a homograph is this: a word that has the same spelling, but different meaning. I'm not going to discuss this fully because it's not much of an issue in writing.

Tire: Can either mean to become tired, exhausted, ext; (Ex: She was quick to tire out.) or a rubber object found on cars, bikes, ect. (Ex: Her car's tire was flat.)

Wound: Can either mean an injury, (Ex: The wound inflicted by the dog became infected.) or can be used as the past tense of the word 'wind' (Ex: She wound the bandage around her arm.)

Desert: Can either mean to leave something or someone behind, (Ex: He deserted the other soldiers by going AWOL.) or the meal often held after supper. (Ex: She was not allowed to eat desert until she ate her veggies first.)


That concludes this guide. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave one.