Learn to Spell Tricky Homophones

In this activity, we're going to to be looking at common homophones and how to spell them.

 

Homophones are words that sound the same but mean different things and are spelt differently.

 

For example bear and bare.  

 

Read those two words out loud - did you notice that they sound exactly the same?  

They have completely different meanings though - let's look at each of them in a sentence:

 

The bear was prowling through the forest.

 

 

On hot days I like to take off my socks and have bare feet.

 

 

In this activity, we are going to practise spelling a trio of homophones:

rain and rein and reign

 

Let's look at these in a sentence so we can understand their different meanings:

 

Can you hear the rain?

 

 

Rain is a type of weather, when water fall from clouds.

 

The rider pulled on the horse's rein.

 

 

A rein is a long strap which is attached to a horse's harness around their head.  A rider holds the reins to steer and guide the horse.

 

Queen Elizabeth had a very long reign.

 

 

A reign is the time period that a monarch rules for.  It can also be used as a verb ('The new king will reign over the country').

 

Use Look, Say, Cover, Write, Check to practise spellings a few times before we begin the activities.