Vocabulary: The 27 most common HOMOPHONES in English

TRANSCRIPT

[Whistles] Wow, what a good book. I should buy another one of these. What? Oh, hi. James from engVid. I was just looking at my book, here, and it seems E has a question. Let's go take a look. So, what's that, E? "I won the race?", "I one the race?" - you don't know the difference? Do you know the difference? Today we're going to work on homophones. I'm going to explain what they are and give you some very common examples that you've probably made mistakes with, but I'm going to help you today to clear them up. You ready? Let's go to the board.

Oh, I said "homophones", and I know there are some of you out there that are grammar nerds, and you're going to say: "Oh, homophones, homograms, dah, dah." I'm going to break it down and say: When we talk about "homo" it means the same; the same. And in this case, a "homograph" is something that is written graphic. It is written like a picture. And when we say "homophone", I'm sure you have a cellphone, like, you know, cellphone. We call it a "phone" because it's the sound. With a cellphone, we deal with sounds; and with homographs we deal with what is written.

Today I really want to concentrate more on homophones, which are words that are going to sound the same... So, let's take a look: Homophones are words that sound the same, but they are different. I forgot a period, here. And an example would be "bare" and "bear". Okay? Or: "whether" and "weather". And I've had many students ask me: What's the difference. They go: "How do you pronounce it? I... I know it looks the same or almost the same." And I say: "It sounds the same." They go: "Why? They mean vastly or very different things." I go: "Yes, you're right, and I'm going to help you see the difference." Now, the problem with a homophone, of course, is when you say it, you don't know how it's spelt, and we use the spelling to tell us that it's a different meaning. The secret to that is context, and I'll go through a couple of examples a little later on and show what I mean by: If you listen to the context, you will have an idea of what they mean.

As I said: homographs are words that are written the same, but have different meanings. But because I'm not going to go into homographs right now, I'm not going to give you the examples. I'm going to give you the examples for the homophones, here. And if you notice, I have something that looks like a calculator or, you know, some buttons you can press on a dial for a phone. And I did that because, in some of these, we can use the homophones to show or illustrate the difference.

So, let's do the first one, here. "One" and "won". If you noticed, E had a problem with: "I won the race?", "I one the race?" To be honest, once again, it's a homophone; the sound is exactly the same, but the context will tell us what the difference is. "One" is clearly number one. I have one friend - a number. But when I won a race, because it's a competition, I can go: "Oh, it's 'won'." That's our first homophone.

We did number one; let's look at number two. Because I'm smart like that, I did "two" and "to". In this case, "two", the number two - you know it? Right? One, two, three. We have another "to", this one, here, which can be used both in an infinitive form and a preposition. Examples. "I want to buy" is an infinitive form. "We're going to the store". Right? We can use that as a preposition "to"... "To" or "from", when we're using it like that.

And this one I like as well: "too", "t-o-o". I say this is what we call there's too many o's or it's excessive in English. Meaning that it's more than you want. An example is: "It's too... My coffee is too hot; I cannot drink it." Cool? All right. That's the number "two". Notice the homophone? They all sound the same. So, if you're going: "Well, why is he teaching us?" It's just so you know, when you see these words, do not change how you say them; the pronunciation is the same, but know when you're writing them or in the sentence you're saying them... […]

[kinguutttgt]

Whole & hole
Know & no
Our & hour
Cell & sell
Meet & meat
Sea & see
Some & sum

[lucienemelo]

Sou brasileira estou começando a asister seus vídeos e estou amando .

[АндрейБобренёв-эу]

If you're still alve, you're the best principal ever. Ahahah. It really cracked me up.

[maricelafernandez]

Hi James, love your class. I just found this page, and is one the the best, it will help me with my English which i still struggle with the writing. I have all these ideas in my head, but i can not put it in paper. I feel it because of the lack of vocabulary or to find the right words. I am confused with ed not sure where to apply. Thank in advance

[gordon]

My favourite homophone was: life is a mystery = life is a Mr. E : ) sound same

[andrealiendo]

Hi from Angentina🇦🇷 your videos are so helpful!

[begintoself]

I sometimes question why I’m subscribed to this channel, as I’m already fluent in English. But, nevertheless great video.

[Ryadiati]

Hi Mr. James
I like your channel . And i want to teach math with the same way you do.
Can i know what’s your camera and mic plz ?

[eronfire]

You are the best! I can't stop to watch you. Thanks for all.

[itumelengmachobane]

You are the best teacher ever ....here from South Africa... enhance my vocabulary everyday because of you ....and I have been watching your video on how to do the best essay introduction and am still struggling example topic being you are the master of your own destiny...but hope I get the hand of it ....you are the best indeed

[valkuranov]

James. you're the best!) Bye-bye-bye... It was Nsync band

[phlegios]

Your and you're, there and they're - used to give me a lot of headaches. One time, about 12 years ago, my English teacher told me that you have to pronounce 'your and you're' differently. Your, I was told, must be pronounced as "Yo'r" and you're as "U'r", which didn't make any sense. And only a couple of months ago I finally figured this out, mostly by practicing and watching native speakers pronounce these words...over and over again. Now I can finally relax and be comfortable with how it supposed to sound. This "revelation" even boosted my confidence.
Advice for others: don't ever listen to non-native speakers, even if they teach a foreign language. At least don't listen to school teachers - they're the most incompetent of the kind. I'm sure there are teachers that do a good job at what they do, but in my experience, it's best to trust a book than a human (in these kinds of situations). Once you get enough basic education from a book, look up an online teacher - a native speaker, such as this awesome guy. :)

[Franciscoluche]

“Break a leg !!!” 😉👍 (= Good luck !!! 🤗❤️)

[yannleglise]

Woaw, James! I guess I will have no one contradicting me when I state what I think now: You're the teacher anyone would dream to have (or have had). You gather all the qualities for that: knowledge, clarity, patience, kindness, plus a good humour and presence. Your lessons are very well structured, you provide fitting examples, relevant mnemonics, and a practical part. Thanks a lot for what you are doing.

[QuirkyTJones]

Not sure these are homophones exactly but effect/affect baffles me STILL @ 40

[tkazhar]

Poor-pore,
Lie(speak)-lie(lying down),
Route-root,
Wet-weight,
No-know,
I got these much,
thank you

[gin-san]

The past participle of the verb "to read" is "read" but there is different to spell

[RealEverydayEnglish]

Awesome stuff mate!

Being a native English who is also learning a foreign language, I discovered that I have a passion for teaching English after helping my language partners. This has inspired me to start my own channel teaching English.

Keep up the great work 😎

[abdulzabbar]

Please tell me about your whiteboard size. I have to buy as yours...

[nganhong]

i love the way you make it easier to remember, to learn. And the lesson is helpful at all. thank u 😍