Blog Schedule

I post on Monday with an occasional random blog thrown in for good measure. I do my best to answer all comments via email and visit around on the days I post.

Monday, July 6, 2009

Homophonic Monday - A

The English language is fascinating and confusing. Homophones are perhaps my favorite group of words. Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different spellings and different meanings or words that are spelled the same, but have different meanings and may have different pronunciations. Got that?

Because I will be away for the next couple of months and may not get to blog much, if at all, I have decided to leave you with a list of homophones. I doubt seriously it is a complete list, but it’s a good start. Also, some words, depending on how you pronounce them, might not seem like true homophones, but they are so close I’ve included them anyway. What the heck, the more the merrier.

And so, every Monday until I run out of letters, you can look forward to lists of words. Enjoy. Oh…and feel free to add any you can think of. I will leave it up to you to research definitions. It would be neat if you left a comment in the form of a sentence that uses homophones.

Are you ready?

I took a deep breath of air ere I began to read Jane Eyre. But I did err, as e'er I do, for I forgot I was not heir to that book.

A
a while, awhile
accede, exceed
accept, except
accessary, accessory
acclamation, acclimation
acts, ax
ad, add
adds, ads, adze
ade, aid, aide
addition, edition
adherence, adherents
admittance, admittants
adolescence, adolescents
advise, advice
aerie, airy,
aerial, areal, Ariel
aero, arrow
affect, effect
affluent, effluent
aids, aides, AIDS
ail, ale
air, e’er, ere, err, heir, Eyre (as in Jane)
aisle, I’ll, isle
all, awl
all ready, already
allot, a lot, alot
all together, altogether
allowed, aloud
allude, elude
allusion, illusion, elusion
alms, arms
aloud, allowed
alter, alter
amend, emend
an, Ann
analyst, annalist
ant, aunt
ante, anti, auntie
antecedence, antcedents
anyone, any one
anyway, any way
apatite, appetite
appose, oppose
arc, ark
are, hour, our
armer, armor
arrant, errant
ascent, assent
ascent, assent
assistance, assistants
ate, eight
attendance, attendants
auger, augur
aught, ought
auk, awk
aural, oral
aureole, oriole
auricle, oracle
away, aweigh
awed, odd
awful, offal
awhile, a while
axes, axis
axel, axle
ay, aye, eye, I

9 comments:

  1. Cool -- I've always liked these for some odd reason!

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  2. Love these word lists.
    Enjoy your trip!

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  3. Anyway, is there any way to not love a phrase like awful offal?

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  4. Aye, and how I wish my eye had no stye.
    (and if you have any pirates on that isle, may they be Deppish)

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  5. Have a good summer. See you in the autumn!

    My students have a love/hate relationship with homophones!

    Japanese is full of these too, and only the 'kanji' (Chinese characters -- even Japanese is written with Chinese characters) make the meaning clear. 'Hashi', for instance, can mean 'chopsticks', 'bridge', or 'edge', and that's just for starters.

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  6. Hang on: I forgot to include a sentence with homophones...

    Hope ewe have a good thyme on your vacation and right again awn your blog when ewe can.

    (Shudder. I had an ant who used to spell like that four reel.)

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Your Random Thoughts are most welcome!