Common English Homophones and How to Tell Them Apart

Say the following three sentences aloud, then write them down without looking anything up.

• "Their going to bring there books."
• "Its a nice day, and the dog wagged it's tail."
• "I want to go to, but its to late."

If you wrote them as they are, every word sounds right and every word is wrong. These are homophones, words that are pronounced the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. English has a lot of them, and because they sound identical, your ear cannot help you. You have to rely on knowing which spelling belongs to which meaning.

This guide covers the ones that cause the most trouble in writing, and gives you a short check for each.

Why homophones are tricky

When you read or hear a word, your brain connects the sound to a meaning. With a homophone, two or more meanings share one sound. In speech, the surrounding words usually make the meaning clear. In writing, the spelling has to carry the difference, and the spelling is where mistakes happen.

Native speakers make these mistakes too, especially when typing quickly. So if you get them wrong, you are in good company. The difference is that readers tend to notice them, which is why they are worth fixing in emails, applications and exam essays.

A useful point: the most common homophone mistakes involve very short, very frequent words. These are words you write dozens of times a week, so a small habit pays off quickly.

Their, there and they're

The Purdue Online Writing Lab, a well-known university writing resource, gives these short definitions:

• Their is a possessive pronoun, as in "They got their books."
• There refers to a place. It contains the word here, which is a useful reminder.
• They're is a contraction of they are.

The check: read the sentence with they are in the gap. If it makes sense, write they're. If not, ask whether the word shows who owns something. If so, it is their. If it points to a place or is used in phrases like "there is," it is there.

They're going to bring their books there. One sentence, all three, each doing a different job.

Its and it's

• Its is the possessive form of it: "The crab had an unusual growth on its shell."
• It's is a contraction of it is or it has: "It's raining."

This pair confuses people because an apostrophe usually shows possession in English, as in the dog's tail. Possessive pronouns are the exception. The Purdue guide on apostrophes explains that possessive pronouns such as his, hers and its take no apostrophe. An apostrophe in it's only means that a letter has been left out.

The check: replace the word with it is or it has. If the sentence still works, use it's. If it does not, use its.

Your and you're

• Your is a possessive pronoun: "Your shoes are untied."
• You're is a contraction of you are.

The check: the same as above. Try you are. "You are welcome" works, so you're welcome. "You are shoes" does not, so it must be your shoes.

To, too and two

• To is a preposition or the start of an infinitive verb: "They went to the lake to swim."
• Too means very or also. The Purdue guide offers a memory trick: it has an extra o, as in "one too many."
• Two is the number. It shares the letters tw with twelve and between, which can help you remember the spelling.

The check: if you mean also or more than enough, you need the extra o. If you mean the number, it has the w. Everything else is to.

A few more pairs worth knowing

These are not on the Purdue page above, but they come up often enough to be worth a quick look.

Two of these have tricks of their own. Hear contains ear, which is a good way to remember it. And here looks like there, so the place words belong together.

How to build the habit

The pairs are easy to learn once. They are hard to get right every time, because you stop thinking when you are typing fast. A few habits help.

Make one check part of proofreading. Before you send something important, scan only for their/there/they're, its/it's, your/you're and to/too. Searching for these words in your document takes seconds.

Say the long form. When you see an apostrophe word, expand it in your head. It's becomes it is. If the longer version sounds wrong, the apostrophe is wrong.

Collect your own errors. Everyone has two or three homophones that they repeatedly get wrong. Keep a short list of yours and read it before writing something formal. A short personal list works better than a long general one.

Practice with sentences. Learning the pair from a table is not the same as using it. Write a sentence for each meaning, and review them again in a few days. This is a good use of a few minutes, and it connects to the idea in active recall versus rereading: try to produce the right spelling first, then check.

Where listening helps and where it does not

Hearing a word pronounced is helpful for most vocabulary. For homophones, it does not help at all, because the two words sound alike. That is a good reason not to rely on your ear here. The skill you need is recognizing which spelling goes with which meaning, and that comes from reading, writing and short checks.

If you use Wordabulary, the practice cards show a definition and an example sentence for each word. For a homophone, the example sentence is the useful part. Notice the words around it, because those words are what tell you which spelling is needed. You can also learn confusable pairs side by side; there is more on that in complement versus compliment, another pair that sounds alike.