The Tricky Word List – Homonyms, Homophones and Homographs

OK, gather round. It’s confession time again. Are there pairs of words that you struggle to get right? Even though you’ve written these words and checked them again and again, it doesn’t seem to matter, they just get jumbled up in your mind and you can’t remember which one to use or when to use them. I have these tricky words and I’ve decided that it might be time to write another list: the words that trip you up list or the Tricky Word List.

Here are some word groups that some writers and English learners can find challenging to get their heads around. If this is you, you are not alone.

Homonyms

These are words that sound the same and have the same spelling but have different meanings. Here’s an example that confuses my EAL students:

bat (noun) – an animal that flies and comes out at night.

bat (noun) – an item used to hit a ball such as a cricket bat or baseball bat.

bat (verb) – to hit an item such as a ball with an object (usually a bat)

Student: You mean bat is an animal that flies and something you can hit a ball with?

Me: Yes.

Student: (amazed)

Homophones

These words sound the same but are spelled differently and have different meanings.

Here’s a combination I came across recently in a job application I was editing:

sort (noun) – a group or type of an item or object

sort (verb) – to group items by type

versus

sought (verb) – past tense and past participle of the verb ‘seek’. This can also be used to mean ‘look for’ or ‘find’.

An example of using sought might be – ‘I sought solutions to the problems by consulting with other stakeholders in the organisation.’

Homographs

These words have the same spelling but have different meanings and sound different.

Here is an example of a homograph:

bow (noun – rhymes with go) – a hair ornament or decoration on a gift made with a ribbon.

bow (verb – rhymes with cow) – the act of lowering the top half of your body as a sign of respect to another person such as a king or queen.

Tricky words for me include the words practise/practice. These homophones are words I use regularly when it comes to writing school reports. I often get told that I’ve used the wrong one. I need to remember whether the word I’m using is working as a verb or a noun. Other tricky word pairs for me include the words affect/effect. I know some people find their/there/they’re tricky and others can find the combination of to/too/two a challenge.

When copyediting, editors use style sheets to keep track of spelling, capitalisation and shortened word forms among other things. This helps to ensure the document or piece of work is consistent from the beginning to the end. When writing, authors and writers can keep a list of the words that frequently trip them up which they can refer to as they go or at least check back on after they have finished writing.

At the top of my list, next time I write school reports will be the words practise and practice. Which words will be on your list? Let me know in the comments below.