Memory Tricks for Homophones

Eye – I The word eye looks a bit like eyes and a nose.
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.