Spot the Correctly Spelled Homophone

Welcome word detective, we’ve got another word puzzle on our hands and we need your help!

 

What do you notice about the following words?

heir          air

 

You’ve got it! They both sound the same but are spelled differently. Words like this are called homophones.

 

We need to know when to use each of the words above:

 

Word	Meaning	Example
heir	The person who is next in line to the throne or a business	Prince William is the heir to the throne.
air	The air that we breathe in	We breathed in the fresh air.

 

Using these meanings, which word would best complete the following sentence?

 

He was the eldest son and ____ (heir, air) to the throne.

The best answer is heir as we are discussing the person who will take over when the King or Queen dies, so: He was the eldest son and heir to the throne.

 

Here are some other examples of homophones and when to use them:

 

pore	An opening in the skin	pour	Cause a liquid to flow
flair	A talent	flare	Sudden burst of flame
serial	A regular series	cereal	Breakfast food
dissent	Disagreement	descent	Moving downwards

 

Use the table above to help select the words that best complete this sentence:

 

Carefully, she       (pores/pours) milk on her bowl of       (cereal/serial).

The correct answers are pours and cereal, so: Carefully, she pours milk on her bowl of cereal.

 

 

Let’s try one more.

 

The       (flare/flair) shot into the air then the flame made a gentle         (dissent/descent).

The correct answers are flare and descent, so: The flare shot into the air then the flame made a gentle descent.

 

 

Pssst!!             Top Tip: The best way to get to grips with pesky homophones is to write them down in your vocab book. This way, you can learn what each spelling means.

 

It’s now your turn to hunt the homophones.

Good luck!