Memory Tricks for Homophones

Fairy – Ferry   The fairy needs air in which to fly, so put air in fairy. 

Flower – Flour      Flowers grow lower to the ground than trees, so put lower in flower. 

Fourth – Forth    Fourth is number one, two, three, four. 

Hear – Here     You need an ear to hear, so put ear in hear.

Heard – Herd     You needed an ear when you heard, so put ear in heard.

Hoarse – Horse  Think “hoarse throat.”  Both hoarse and throat are oa words.

Meat – Meet     You eat meat, so put eat in meat.

Piece – Peace     Think “piece of pie,” and put pie in piece.

Read – Red     Today I read; yesterday I read.  Whether I do it today or yesterday, it is spelled the same, read.

Ring – Wring     Think “ring a ding ding.”  (It is not ring a wding wding!)  If you wouldn’t start ding with a w, don’t start ring with a w.

Roll – Role     A scroll has a roll, so spell roll like the ending letters of scroll.

Sleigh – Slay     Think “the horse says neigh as it pulls the sleigh.”  Both neigh and sleigh are eigh words.

Stairs – Stares     You rise in the air as you climb the stairs, so put air in stairs.

Stationery – Stationary     You use stationery to write a letter.  Both letter and stationery have the letter e.

Tents – Tense     Tents is the plural of tent.  Think tent + s.

There – Their – They’re
           There:      Think “here or there?”  There has here in it.
         Their:       Their always has a “something” word after it as in their dog or their books.
         They’re:   They’re means they + (a)re

Towed – Toad     Towed is tow + ed.

Two – Too – To
           Two:           Think “two, twice, and twin.”  All are just one more than one, and all start with tw.
         Too:            Too means “extra” (as in too tall or too much) and “also” which ends in o (as in I want to go, too,) so too ends an extra o.

Vane – Vain – Vein     A weather vane can indicate wind from the NE (northeast,) so spell vane with ne.

Warn – Worn     Think “warn about dangerous things like war.”  War is in warn.

We’d – Weed     We’d is we + (ha)d or we + (woul)d.

Weight – Wait     Think “the weight is eight pounds,” so put eight in weight.

We’ve – Weave     We’ve is we + (ha)ve.

Won – One     Think “it is wonderful to have won,” and spell won like the first syllable of wonderful.

Write – Right     Think “I write with my wrist.”  Both write and wrist start with wr.

by Susan Penney, NonPublic Educational Services, Inc.