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GCSE English Language · key term
A word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning, often with a different spelling, such as ‘their’ and ‘there’.
Used by AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas
Paper 1, Paper 2
Revise: SpellingA homophone is a word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning. Listening to a sentence will not always reveal the error, so you need to test what the word is doing.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A word pronounced the same as another word but with a different meaning, and often a different spelling, such as ‘there’ and ‘their’.
Check homophones by meaning, not by sound: expand contractions such as ‘they’re’ to test whether they fit.
Check homophones by meaning, not by sound: a correctly spelt word can still be the wrong word.
For homophones, check the meaning in the sentence rather than relying on how the word sounds.
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Homophones sound alike but have different meanings. Listening to a sentence in your head will not necessarily reveal the error: you need to consider what each word is doing.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning, and often a different spelling, such as their and there.
Revise: SpellingA homophone sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning. Sounding out the word therefore cannot settle which spelling you need. Read the whole sentence and ask what the word is doing.
Paper 1, Paper 2
A word pronounced the same as another word but with a different meaning, and often a different spelling, such as ‘hear’ and ‘here’.
Revise: SpellingA homophone can look correctly spelt but still be the wrong word. Sound alone cannot distinguish there, their and they’re.
Component 1, Component 2
A word that sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning and may have a different spelling, such as ‘hear’ and ‘here’.
Revise: SpellingA homophone sounds the same as another word but has a different meaning. Listening to a sentence in your head will not necessarily reveal a homophone error. You need to ask what the word is doing.
