An interesting challenge – even for really confident spellers – is knowing the difference between homographs, homophones and homonyms. I’m going to let you in on a little secret though: if you think about the words morphologically (remember that means about the base words) it’s EASY to work it out.

Let’s start with homograph: We know – from our prior learning in Science and Growth & Development – that homo means ‘the same’.  That leaves us with graph. We can predict – based on our understanding of graphic novels, graphs and graffiti – that graph has something to do with drawing or writing.  If we combine these two ideas we come up with a word that means ‘written or drawn the same way’. So for example: console (as in your PS3) and console (to comfort someone).  These words are spelled exactly the same but have very different meanings.

Let’s break up homophone in the same way: We already know about homo, which just leaves phone. We can predict – based on our understanding of telephone, microphone, earphones – that phono has something to do with sound. If we combine these two ideas we come up with a word that means ‘sounds the same way’. So for example: no (the opposite of yes) and know (to be aware of something).  These words sound exactly the same but have very different spelling and meaning.

This brings us to homonym. This one is a bit trickier because nym isn’t so obvious. If we think carefully though we can see it in words like anonymous and synonym which both have meanings related to names. So if we combine this idea with the meaning of homo we come up with a word that means ‘same name’.  A homonym looks and sounds the same but has different meanings. So for example: bat (the nocturnal creature) and bat (the cricket equipment).  These words are spelled and pronounced exactly the same but have very different meanings.

Recently in our writing activities I’ve that nearly everyone is mixing up the spelling of their homophones. More specifically I’ve noticed that people are using one spelling for both/all of the homophones. So, today we’re going to challenge ourselves  to improve this area of our writing.

There will be 8 game stations.  at which you will have 7 minutes.  At each station you will find a paint chip (yay! I found another way to use them!) with some homophones.  You will have to work quickly because you will need to discover the meaning of each word, write one or more sentences that demonstrate your understanding of the difference between them and finally share your sentences with the other people in your group to check your understanding. When the bell goes, you will need to move to the next station and quickly get on with the next set of words.

Can you find any homophones, homographs or homonyms in this post other than the obvious examples in my explanation?

Yep, I flipped this photo so the writing was the right way.