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Homonyms

Homonyms are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. In the sentence "The two boys want to play too." the three highlighted words are pronounced identically, but in each case the spelling is different. To, too, and two are homonyms.

There are hundreds of pairs of homonyms in the English language, far too many for us to list them all here. So we will concentrate on groups of homonyms in which three (sometimes more) words are all pronounced identically.

You may find that in the dialect you speak, some of these are not actually homonyms. There tend to be far more homonyms in American and Scottish varieties of English, for example, than standard British English. This is because standard British English distinguishes more vowel sounds, and thus some of the words listed below would not be pronounced identically by some speakers.

Homonym Groups

Here are 88 groups of three or more English homonyms, listed in alphabetical order.

adds ads adze

ade aid aide

air are e'er ere err heir

aisle I'll isle

aweful awful offal

aye eye I

bailee bailey bailie

bailer bailor baler

baize bays beys

bald balled bawled

bases basis basses

bel bell belle

bight bite byte

boar boor bore

bole boll bowl

born borne bourn

buy by bye

call caul col

carat caret carrot karat

cay key quay

censer censor sensor

cent scent sent

cents scents sense

cere sear seer sere

chord cord cored

cite sight site

cited sighted sited

cites sights sites

dew do due

do doe dough

does doughs doze

ewe yew you

ewes use yews

fir fur furr

flew flu flue

for fore four

frees freeze frieze

gild gilled guild

gnu knew new

haut ho hoe

heigh hi hie high

hoard horde whored

holey holy wholly

idle idol idyl

knot naught not

knows noes nose

lays laze leis

lea lee li

lochs locks lox

mall maul moll

marc mark marque

meat meet mete

oar or ore

pair pare pear

palate pallet pallette

peak peek pique

pincer pincher pinscher

poor pore pour

praise prays preys

precedence precedents presidents

psi sigh xi

rain reign rein

raise rays raze

rapped rapt wrapped

read rede reed

rheumy roomie roomy

rho roe row

right rite wright write

road rode rowed

seas sees seize

sew so sol sow

slew slough slue

tea tee ti

teas tease tees

tern terne turn

their there they're

to too two

toad toed towed

vain vane vein

vial vile viol

wail wale whale

ware wear where

way weigh whey

weald wheeled wield

weather wether whether

we're were whir

whined wind wined

yore you're your

Homonym Poem (Oronym)

An Ode to the Spelling Chequer

Prays the Lord for the spelling chequer
That came with our pea sea!
Mecca mistake and it puts you rite
Its so easy to ewes, you sea.

I never used to no, was it e before eye?
(Four sometimes its eye before e.)
But now I've discovered the quay to success
It's as simple as won, too, free!

Sew watt if you lose a letter or two,
The whirled won't come two an end!
Can't you sea? It's as plane as the knows on yore face
S. Chequer's my very best friend

I've always had trubble with letters that double
"Is it one or to S's?" I'd wine
But now, as I've tolled you this chequer is grate
And its hi thyme you got won, like mine.

Janet E. Byford

A similar poems is in our oronym section. Homonyms are very closely related to oronyms and homophones. Also on a similar theme to oronyms are mondegreens. Why not visit the mondegreens page of our malapropisms section to find out more?

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