--- title: Homophones and near-homophones — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Homophones and near-homophones», a lesson of the english course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: see and sea, bear and bare, piece and peace --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/) / Homophones and near-homophones # Homophones and near-homophones Lesson 11 of the english course of Mova's primary school: 24 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/0/) — Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things: see and sea, bear and bare, piece and peace. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/2/) — The meaning of the sentence decides: «I see the sea» needs both. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/4/) — «There» is a place (it has «here» inside it), «their» means belonging to them, and «they're» is short for «they are». - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/5/) — The test is simple: can you say «they are» instead? - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/6/) — Then it is «they're». - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/8/) — Apostrophes cause the worst muddles. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/9/) — «It's» means «it is» or «it has»; «its» means belonging to it, with no apostrophe, just like his and hers. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/11/) — The same goes for «you're» (you are) and «your» (belonging to you), and «who's» (who is) and «whose» (belonging to whom). - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/12/) — Say the long form; if it fits, use the apostrophe. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/13/) — Some pairs only sound nearly the same: near-homophones. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/16/) — Grown-ups mix these up too; shop signs saying «your welcome» are everywhere. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/17/) — Slang can give an old word a new meaning. - [18](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/18/) — In London youth slang «bare» means very or lots of: «That party was bare good». - [19](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/19/) — It is not wrong, just a different place: playground or homework. - [20](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/20/) — And for «to, too, two»: «to» goes towards or before a verb, «too» means also or very (it has too many o's), «two» is the number 2. - [21](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/21/) — Homophones sound the same but have different spellings and meanings: see/sea, bear/bare, piece/peace. - [23](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/23/) — «To» shows direction or comes before a verb; «too» means also or very; «two» is the number 2. - [27](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/27/) — A contraction is a short form with an apostrophe where letters are missing: they're, you're, it's, who's. - [28](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/28/) — «Bear» is the animal or means to carry; «bare» means uncovered. - [29](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/29/) — «Piece» is a part of something; «peace» is calm, with no fighting. - [31](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/31/) — Homophones stick best when you learn them inside sentences, like «I see the sea». - [33](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/33/) — «Affect» is usually a verb (to change something); «effect» is usually a noun (the result). - [34](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/34/) — The sentence around a homophone, its context, tells you which spelling is needed. - [35](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/11-homophones-and-near-homophones/35/) — Slang in this lesson: in London youth slang «bare» means very or lots of; «eejit» is Irish for idiot; «wee» is Scottish and Northern Irish for small. - ← previous: [i before e, silent letters and other famous traps](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/10-i-before-e-silent-letters-and-famous-traps/) - next →: [Prefixes: un-, dis-, mis-, re-, pre-, in-, im-, il-, ir-](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/12-prefixes-un-dis-mis-re-pre-in-im-il-ir/) - ↑ back to [English](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/english/)