Words that Sound the Same but have Different Meanings

Common Homonyms (Homophones and Homographs)

Words that Sound the Same – Part 2

Continuing with the previous article on Homonyms, here are some more words which sound the same but have different meanings:

Your, You’re and Yore

Your – an adjective indicating something which relates to you, e.g. your dress; relating to oneself, e.g. your anonymity; almost the same as the definite article, e.g. your average politician.

You’re – a contraction of you are, e.g. You’re developing a new software game, means You are developing…

Yore    - a noun, not commonly used, to indicate days past, e.g. days of yore.

Right, Rite and Rite

Right   - an adjective, adverb, noun or part of an idiom, e.g. You’re right, meaning you are correct; Turn to the right, meaning the direction; All right! – slang, meaning you agree wholeheartedly; He righted the table, meaning he placed the table in the correct position.

Rite     - a noun which is used to describe ceremonial or religious acts, e.g. rites of passage, meaning a ceremony of initiation into a group.

Write   - a verb indicating a way to inscribe something onto a surface, e.g. She wanted to write her autobiography rather than to leave her biography to others.

Whose and Who’s

Whose - an adjective or pronoun meaning to whom, e.g. Whose idea was this? Meaning “This idea belonged to whom.”

Who’s – a contraction of who is or who has, e.g. Who’s dinner is sitting on the table? Meaning: Who is the owner of the dinner sitting on the table?

Buy, Bye and By

Buy     - a verb indicating the purchase of something for money, e.g. She left to buy a pair of shoes suitable for running; a noun, e.g. a good buy, meaning a purchase which was a good deal; slang, e.g. buy the story, meaning accept the story as true.

Bye     - a noun meaning to advance to the next round in a sport without playing the game, “He had a bye for round one but now must play the top seed.”; a short form of Goodbye, meaning farewell or good day.

By       - can be a noun, preposition, adverb, adjective or interjection, e.g. Place the umbrella by the door, meaning near the door; by the bye, meaning incidentally; The room is 10 by 12, meaning 10 feet wide and 12 feet long.

For, Four and Fore

For      - a preposition mostly used to indicate purpose, e.g. for breakfast, for summer holidays.

Four    - the number after three and before five.

Fore    - an adverb, preposition, noun, interjection or adjective, e.g. to the fore, meaning to the front; “Fore!” shouted by golfers to advise others ahead that a golf ball will be in the air; to the fore, meaning to the front (old English).

Cents, Sense and Scents

Cents  - in many countries, a unit indicating one hundredth of another monetary unit.

Sense - an awareness, e.g. common sense, a sense of self.

Scents - odours emanating from something, e.g. perfumes, odours of an animal.

Vain, Vein and Vane

Vain    - self-centered, conceited.

Vein    - a blood vessel which takes blood away from the heart.

Vane   - a mechanical devise usually installed at a high point of a building to indicate the direction of the wind.   

We've barely scratched the surface as far as listing common homonyms goes! Here's a website with an amazing list of Homonyms, Homographs, and Homophones that you might want to check out.

Contact me if you have any questions or have ideas for other articles you'd like to see.


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