A. Homophones and homographs

Homophones are words with different meanings which are pronounced in the same way but are spelt differently, e.g. row as in ‘at the end of the row’ and roe [fish eggs].

Homographs are words which are written in the same way but have different meanings and may be pronounced differently. Compare row in ‘we had a row /raʊ/ about who should pay for the tickets’ [argument] and ‘he sat at the end of the row /rəʊ/’ [line of seats].

B. Homophones

C. Homographs with differing pronunciations

Check the pronunciation of the words in bold. You can use the list of phonemic symbols.

• I live in the north of England. /lɪv/
• My favourite rock group is singing live on TV tonight. /laɪv/
• I read in bed each night. /riːd/
• I read War and Peace last year. /red/
• The lead singer in the group is great. /liːd/
• Lead pipes are dangerous. /led/ [metal, chemical element]
• The wind blew the tree down. /wɪnd/
• Wind the rope round this tree. /waɪnd/
• She wound the string round the parcel and tied it up. /waʊnd/
• He suffered a terrible wound in the war. /wuːnd/
• This book is called English Vocabulary in Use. /juːs/
• You must know how to use words as well as their meaning. /juːz/
• They lived in a large old house. /haʊs/
• The buildings house a library and two concert halls as well as a theatre. /haʊz/
• The sow has five piglets. /saʊ/ [female pig]
• The farmers sow the seeds in the spring. /səʊ/ [plant seeds]
• Bathing the baby at night may help her to fall asleep. /ˈbɑːðɪŋ/
• (on a sign at a beach) No bathing. /ˈbeɪðɪŋ/