Fix your spelling mistakes: 10 confusing words that sound the same

TRANSCRIPT

So, the first one. I've put in a gap to give you a chance to think of the word and the spelling yourself. So, for this sentence, it should read:
"There was a __________ in the road, and it took a __________ group of workmen to fix it."
Okay, so for the word hole/whole, there are two different spellings. So, can you think what kind of hole/whole this is, the hole/whole in the road; and what kind of hole/whole this is, a hole/whole group of people? Okay. I'll just give you a few seconds to think, and you might like to write it down if you have a pencil and paper handy. Okay, so a "hole" in the road, meaning something that needs to be repaired is spelt like that, h-o-l-e. Okay? But a "whole", meaning a total group of workmen is like this, only with a "w" at the beginning, so: "whole", and the pronunciation is exactly the same. Hole in the road, whole group of workmen. There's no difference in how you say it. Okay, good.

Right, second one:
"Do you __________ where my phone is?" And then somebody else replies: "I'm sorry, __________ I don't."
So: "Do you no/know?" and "no/know I don't", so I'll just give you a couple of seconds to think about the two different spellings of that. Okay. So: "Do you know where my phone is?" Okay. K-n-o-w. Okay. That's one of our famous silent letters, the "k" at the beginning. So, k-n-o-w to "know" something: -"Do you know where my phone is?" -"I'm sorry, no", just the negative "no", n-o. So, you can see n-o is in the middle of k-n-o-w, and the negative there, no. Okay.

Right, the third one:
"Yesterday I __________ where I had put my __________ coat. Today I have forgotten."
So, you can see I'm forgetting things, I'm losing things. I don't usually. It's just for the quiz, really. I try not to forget things, I try not to lose things, but it happens sometimes. Okay. So: "Yesterday I new/knew where I had put my new/knew coat. Today I have forgotten." Where is it? Oh, dear. So: "Yesterday I knew", okay, so another one. It's the past tense of "know", "knew", another silent "k". "I knew where I put my new coat." The new coat, which I only bought a few days ago. Okay? So, again, those are the spellings, but the sound is exactly the same. Right.

Next one:
"I don't know __________ I'm going to __________ this hat."
So this word is wear/where in two different spellings. "I don't know wear/where I'm going to wear/where this hat." Okay? So, that's "where", in what place, like the question word: Where? Where shall I wear...? Okay? "I don't know where I'm going to..." Okay, so that's a slightly different... W-e-a-r. To "wear", to put something on. "Where" and "wear".

Okay, and then finally from this first five:
"Can you wait __________ me, please? I shouldn't be more than __________ minutes."
"For/four" and "for/four". Okay? So, f-o-r: "...wait for me", and then the number of minutes, we don't just put the figure because that's cheating, we put the word. Okay? "Four" minutes, so f-o-u-r for the word. Okay, so I hope you've enjoyed that so far, and we will now move on to another five.

Okay, our next five. So, the first one:
"The boy __________ the ball __________ the window."
Okay? So he must have broken the window doing that. "The boy threw/through the ball threw/through the window." Same pronunciation, different spelling. Can you think what the two are? Okay, so, "threw", that's the past tense of "to throw", an irregular verb. So, to throw, he threw in the past. "The boy threw the ball threw/through the window." Oops. Quite a difficult spelling, that one. T-h-r-o-u-g-h. Okay. "...through the window." Right.

[engvidGill]

Thank you to those who have asked about my use of the word 'homonyms'. Just to clarify, here is a quotation from Wikipedia:

So, strictly speaking, you're right, I'm referring to 'homophones' in the video, but using the term 'homonym' more broadly to include homophones.

Thanks to all for your kind comments -- it's a pleasure to hear from you :-)

Gill

[tjfSIM]

I am a native English speaker but I find these videos really relaxing to watch! They're very clear, calm and carefully explained :)

[anonyoO]

To illustrate this topic you have used creative sentences that sounds like pleasant rhymes.
Thank you very much indeed.

[PANIAGO]

Very useful for non native speakers. Thank you!

[brigittesaint-pe]

Hello Gil, it's a pleasure to hear your Sweet English accent. I have been several times in England in the four seasons and I have never seen a drop of rain, you know...Only the Sun.

[Cla_Disney]

Oh my god, somebody help me, this is so relaxing, I'm addicted to this channel, I wanna hug this lovely lady so bad! She's adorable!

[denisenascimento]

Gill you are a very good teacher. You know how to explain with calm and this let us more confident. Thanks a lot.

[agneszu]

Gill，I love your pronunciation，very elegance. very clear. May be you could teach us how to practice pronounce, If you have time. Thanks a million.

[Eliana]

What coincidence, I've just made a sentence to my son: "My son shine like the sun". Hahaha. Thank you Gill. You teach us with a smoothly voice and understandable.

[pastryclub]

The best English Teacher! Thank you for your lessons!

[ceffassoares]

I'm learning a lot of English with your classes. Thank you so much. God bless you!

[martaluciacamachobello]

Your English is lovely! I don't get tired listening you! Thank you!!!

[javiervanegassalgado]

Thanks for your videos. I use them for my classes in Colombia.

[yupapuminsoft]

Thank you so much Gill, this is the first time that I know For and Four are the same sound.

[raydelize]

gill upload more often videos! we enjoy them a lot

[NeduLopes]

Gill, you are lovely! I love your lessons. =)
Thank you!

[MarceloGustavoBaldacchino]

Your pronunciation is so clear that I can get everything you say. By the way, I know other homonyms (or homophones) too: deer and dear; taught us and tortoise; tale and tail; bear and bare; wore and war; lesson and lessen; see and sea; read (past tense) and red; etc. I have read Alice in Wonderland and there are many examples of these there, I think.

[immranneft]

Huh, just asked about male and mail pronunciation in one of next videos. And here is it. Amazing, thank you Gill.

[mkmk]

i love your videos .. you're my best teacher..thank you gill

[israelargentina]

Gill, you are a very  professional teacher and you  project tranquility!