List of Homophones

acts/ax ad/add ads/adds/adz aid/aide ail/ale air/heir/err aisle/isle/I'll all/awl all ready/already all together/altogether allowed/aloud alter/altar ant/aunt arc/ark assent/ascent assistance/assistants ate/eight aural/oral away/aweigh aye/eye bail/bale bait/bate ball/bawl band/banned bard/barred bare/bear faze/phase feat/feet find/fined fir/fur flair/flare flea/flee flew/flu/flue flour/flower flocks/phlox for/four/fore foreword/forward fort/forte forth/fourth foul/fowl friar/fryer gait/gate gene/jean gild/guild gilt/guilt gnu/knew/new gored/gourd gorilla/guerilla grate/great grease/Greece groan/grown guessed/guest pause/paws pea/pee peace/piece peak/peek/pique peal/peel pearl/purl pedal/peddle/petal peer/pier per/purr pi/pie plait/plate plain/plane pleas/please plum/plumb pole/poll pore/pour pray/prey presence/presents prince/prints principal/principle profit/prophet rack/wrack rain/reign/rein raise/rays/raze rap/wrap rapped/rapt/wrapped

baron/barren base/bass bases/basis bazaar/bizarre be/bee beach/beech beat/beet beau/bow bell/belle berry/bury billed/build berth/birth bite/byte blew/blue bloc/block boar/bore board/bored boarder/border bode/bowed bolder/boulder born/borne bough/bow bouillon/bullion boy/buoy bread/bred brake/break brewed/brood brews/bruise bridle/bridal broach/brooch

hail/hale hair/hare hall/haul halve/have hangar/hanger hay/hey heal/heel/he'll hear/here heard/herd heed/he'd hertz/hurts hew/hue/Hugh hi/high higher/hire him/hymn hoard/horde hoarse/horse hole/whole holey/holy/wholly hoes/hose hold/holed hostel/hostile hour/our idle/idol illicit/elicit in/inn insight/incite instance/instants intense/intents its/it's

read/red read/reed real/reel reek/wreak rest/wrest retch/wretch review/revue right/rite/write ring/wring road/rode/rowed roam/Rome roe/row role/roll root/route rose/rows rote/wrote rough/ruff rung/wrung rye/wry sail/sale scene/seen scull/skull sea/see seam/seem seas/sees/seize serf/surf sew/so/sow shear/sheer shoe/shoo shone/shown

browse/brows but/butt buy/by/bye cache/cash callous/callus cannon/canon canvas/canvass capital/capitol carat/carrot/caret/karat carol/carrel cast/caste cede/seed ceiling/sealing cell/sell cellar/seller censor/sensor cent/scent/sent cents/scents/sense cereal/serial cession/session chance/chants chased/chaste cheap/cheep chews/choose chic/sheik chilly/chili choral/coral choir/quire chute/shoot

jam/jamb colonel/kernel knap/nap knead/kneed/need knight/night knit/nit knot/not know/no knows/nose laid/lade lain/lane lay/lei leach/leech lead/led leak/leek lean/lien leased/least lee/lea lessen/lesson levee/levy liar/lier/lyre lichen/liken lie/lye lieu/Lou links/lynx load/lode loan/lone locks/lox loot/lute

side/sighed sighs/size slay/sleigh sleight/slight slew/slue/slough soar/sore soared/sword sole/soul some/sum son/sun staid/stayed stair/stare stake/steak stationary/stationery steal/steel step/steppe stile/style straight/strait suite/sweet surge/serge tacks/tax tail/tale taught/taut tea/tee team/teem tear/tier tern/turn their/there/they're theirs/there's

chord/cord cite/sight/site clause/claws click/clique close/clothes/cloze coal/cole coarse/course colonel/kernel complement/compliment coo/coup coop/coupe core/corps

low/lo made/maid mail/male main/mane/Maine maize/maze mall/maul manner/manor mantel/mantle marry/merry/Mary marshal/martial massed/mast maybe/may be

threw/through thrown/throne thyme/time tic/tick tide/tied to/too/two toad/towed toe/tow told/tolled trussed/trust vain/vane/vein vale/veil vary/very vial/vile vice/vise wade/weighed wail/whale waist/waste wait/weight waive/wave want/wont ware/wear/where way/weigh/whey ways/weighs we/wee weak/week we'll/wheel weather/whether we'd/weed we've/weave

correspondence/correspondents meat/meet/mete council/counsel creak/creek crews/cruise cruel/crewel cue/queue currant/current curser/cursor cymbal/symbol dam/damn days/daze dear/deer defused/diffused desert (abandon)/dessert dew/do/due die/dye disburse/disperse discreet/discrete medal/metal/mettle/meddle might/mite mince/mints mind/mined miner/minor missed/mist moan/mown mode/mowed moose/mousse morn/mourn muscle/mussel mustard/mustered naval/navel nay/neigh none/nun oar/or/ore ode/owed

doe/dough/do (musical note) done/dun draft/draught dual/duel earn/urn ewe/you/yew eye/I faint/feint fair/fare faun/fawn

oh/owe one/won overdo/overdue overseas/oversees pail/pale pain/pane pair/pare/pear palate/palette/pallet passed/past patience/patients

wet/whet which/witch while/wile whine/wine who's/whose wood/would yoke/yolk yore/your/you're you'll/Yule

http://www.dyslexia.org/spelling_rules.shtml

ENGLISH SPELLING RULES Short and Long Vowels 1. To spell a short vowel sound, only one letter is needed: at red it hot up

2. To spell a long sound you must add a second vowel. The second may be next to the first, in the VVC pattern (boat, maid, cue, etc.) or it may be separated from the first one by a consonant in the VCV pattern (made, ride, tide, etc.). If the second vowel is separated from the first by two spaces, it does not affect the first one. This is the VCCV pattern in which the first vowel remains short. Thus, doubling a consonant can be called "protecting" a short vowel because it prevents an incoming vowel from getting close enough to the first one to change its sound from short to long: maid, made, but madder; dine, diner, but dinner. Spelling the Sound /k/ This sound can be spelled in any one of four ways: 1. c 2. cc 3. k 4. ck

1. The single letter, c , is the most common spelling. It may be used anywhere in a word: cat scat corn actor victim direct mica pecan

bacon public

cactus inflict

2. Sometimes the letter c must be doubled to cc to protect the sound of a short vowel: stucco Mecca occupy baccalaureate tobacco raccoon hiccups buccaneer succulent

3. The letter k is substituted for c if /k/ is followed by an e, i, or y. kin skin make token sketch skill poker keep kind liking risky flaky

(Boring examples? How about kyphosis, kylix, keratosis, and dyskinesia?)

4. Similarly, the spelling ck, is substituted for cc if the following letter is an e, i, or y: lucky blackest Kentucky picking mackintosh picnicking rocking frolicked stocking finicky ducking Quebecker

5. The letters, k and ck are more than substitutes for c and cc. They are used to spell /k/ at the end of a monosyllable. The digraph, ck, ALWAYS follows a short vowel: sack duck lick stick wreck clock

(Forget about yak. Your student will never need it.) The letter, k, follows any other sound: milk tank tusk soak peek hawk make bike duke bark cork perk

The Sound, /j/ The sound, /j/ is spelled in three ways: j ge and dge. 1. The letter j is usually used if the sound if followed by an a, o, or u. just jog jam jar jungle injure Japan jury major adjacent job Benjamin jalousie

adjust jacket jolly

jaguar jump

2. Since the letter g has the soft sound of /j/ when it is followed by an e, i, or y, it is usually used in this situation: gentle Egyptologist ginger gem aging origin algebra gym

3. If /j/ follows a short vowel sound, it is usually spelled with dge. This is because the letter j, is never doubled in English. badge judge ridge edge dodge smudge partridge judgement gadget budget

The Sound, /ch/ The sound /ch/ has two spellings: tch after a short vowel, ch anywhere else: witch catch sketch hatchet botch kitchen satchel escutcheon

Exceptions: Which, rich, much, such, touch, bachelor, attach, sandwich, and ostrich. The Sound, /kw/ This sound is ALWAYS spelled with the letters, qu, never anything else. Using -le Words ending in -le, such as little, require care. If the vowel sound is short, there must be two consonants between the vowel and the -le. Otherwise, one consonant is enough. li tt le bo tt le ha nd le pu zz le ti ck le cru mb le a mp le a ng le

bugle

able

poodle

dawdle

needle

idle

people

Odds and Ends 1. The consonants, v, j, k, w, and x are never doubled. 2. No normal English words ends with the letter v. A final /v/ is always spelled with ve, no matter what the preceding vowel sound may be: have receive give love sleeve connive cove brave

Adding Endings There are two kinds of suffixes, those that begin with a vowel and those that begin with a consonant. As usual, the spelling problems occur with the vowels:

Vowel Suffixes - - - age - - - ant - - -ance - - - al - - -ist - - - ish - - -ing - - -ar

Consonant Suffixes - - - ness - - -less - - -ly - - -ful - - - cess - - -ment - - -ty - - -ry

- - -ism - - -able - - -an ---a - - -es - - -ed - - -er - - -est - - -y

- - -o - - -on - - -ous - - -or - - -ual - - -unt - - -um - - -us - - -ive

- - -hood - - -wise

- - -ward

1. Words that end in the letter y must have the y changed to i before adding any suffix: body - bodily many - manifold happy - happiness beauty - beautiful company - companion plenty - plentiful marry - marriage family - familiar puppy - puppies vary - various fury - furious merry - merriment

2. In words that end in a silent e you must drop it before you add a vowel suffix. The silent e is no longer needed to make the preceding vowel long as the incoming vowel will do the trick: ride - riding fame famous pure - purity globe - global cure - curable use - usual force - forcing ice - icicle race - racist refuse refusal nose - nosy pole - polar age - aging slice - slicing convince convincing offense - offensive

3. Words that end in an accented short or modified vowel sound must have the final consonant doubled to protect that sound when you add a vowel suffix: Quebec - Quebecker remit - remittance upset - upsetting confer - conferring refer - referred concur- concurrent

shellac - shellacking occur - occurred

Note that this doubling is not done if the accent is not on the last syllable. If the word ends in a schwa, there is no need to "protect" it. open - opening focus - focused organ - organize refer - referee

4. Normally you drop a silent e before adding a vowel suffix. However, if the word ends in -ceor -ge and the incoming vowel is an a, o, or u, you cannot cavalierly toss out that silent e. It is not useless: it is keeping its left-hand letter soft, and your a, o, or u will not do that. Thus: manage - manageable courage - courageous surge - surgeon notice - noticeable peace - peaceable revenge - vengeance change - changeable outrage - outrageous

Gorgeous George bludgeoned a pigeon noticeably! Tsk.

5. Adding consonant suffixes is easy. You just add them. (Of course you must change a final y to i before you add any suffix.) peace - peaceful pity - pitiful harm - harmless child - childhood /sh/ When this sound occurs before a vowel suffix, it is spelled ti, si, or ci. partial special inertia musician electrician cautious deficient delicious physician nutrition patient suspicion ratio optician statistician vacation suction pension quotient expulsion age - ageless rifle - riflery

/ee/ before a vowel suffix When /ee/ precedes a vowel suffix, it is usually spelled with the letter i: Indian ingredient obvious zodiac medium material

Spelling Determined by Word Meaning 1. Mist and missed sound alike, as do band and banned. To determine the spelling, remember that -ed is a past-tense tending. a. b. c. d. The mist drifted into the harbor. I nearly missed my bus. The movie was banned in Boston. The band played on.

2. The endings of dentist and finest sound alike. Deciding which one to use can be tricky. One rule helps but doesn't cover all cases: a. --ist is a suffix meaning someone who does something: artist - machinist - druggist b. --est is the ending used on superlative adjectives: finest - sweetest - longest 3. The sounds at the end of musician and condition sound alike. but.... a. cian always means a person, where... b. tion or sion are never used for people.

4. How do you tell whether to use tion or sion? a. If the root word ends in /t/, use -tion: complete, completion b. If the root word ends in /s/ or /d/, use sion: extend, extension suppress, suppression c. If the sound of the last syllable is the "heavy" sound of /zhun/ rather than the light sound, /shun/, use s: confusion, vision, adhesion Exception: The ending, --mit becomes -mission: permit - permission submit - submission omit - omission commit - commission

The Hiss 1. The letter s between vowels sounds like a z: nose present preside result partisan resound noise tease reserve

2. The light "hissy" sound is spelled with either ss or ce. Predictably, ss, like any proper doubled consonant, follows accented short vowels. Soft c is used anywhere else. (A soft c is one that is followed by e, i, or y). notice recent essence reticent gossip vessel massive russet discuss bicycle rejoice pass

3. The plural ending is always spelled with a single letter s unless you can hear a new syllable on the plural word. In that case, use -es: loss, losses box, boxes bank, banks list, lists twitch, twitches judge, judges tree, trees