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Pedants' corner

Homophones

10 replies

Pippidoeswhatshewants · 15/09/2014 17:08

Ds (year 6) came home with a homework sheet on homophones. Homophones are "words that sound similar and are spelled differently", like we're and were.

Do I just correct the sheet and teach ds what homophones are, or do I talk to his teacher?

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ilovepowerhoop · 15/09/2014 17:15

what a silly example they gave as they dont sound the same to me at all.

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KatoPotato · 15/09/2014 17:24

That would really annoy me! Are homophones the same as homonyms?

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SconeRhymesWithGone · 15/09/2014 17:29

Homophones sound the same but have different meanings; they may or may not have different spellings.

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ilovepowerhoop · 15/09/2014 17:31

www.enchantedlearning.com/english/homonyms/ - says they are the same thing

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Pippidoeswhatshewants · 15/09/2014 18:34

It all boils down to the fact that neither were and we're nor know and now are homophones. Or homonyms.

It just gives me THE RAGE! Every time they try to do some "complicated grammar" I have to go in and explain it to them. Like at the end of last term, when they tried to teach the children what a subordinate clause is. The head had to come in and referee. I won.

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SconeRhymesWithGone · 15/09/2014 20:48

Give them this.

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Elisheva · 18/09/2014 19:09

The clue is in the name: homo - same, phone - sound, nym - word/name.

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Tanaqui · 21/09/2014 22:05

Are they confused with homographs (same spelling, can be different sound, eg row (boat) and row( argue)? Having said that there is some debate online about exactly what is a homonym and how it includes homophones and homographs if you read around.

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LeonardWentToTheOffice · 01/10/2014 01:28

We had this and I think it's a accent/region thing. Some people (not me) would pronounce both "were" and "we're" exactly the same.

A bit, I think, like "put" and "putt". Having a Lincs accent, in my case, these 2 words sound distinctly different, but not to others.

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NormaStits · 07/10/2014 23:54

It is a regional thing. My partner and I disagree on whether were and wear are homophones, due to our different accents. I think wear rhymes with where. She thinks wear rhymes with were. One of my colleagues said that all 3 were the same homophone.

I used to teach phonics, the key is to ensure that homophones are taught relevant to local accent, with acknowledgement of regional variations if necessary.