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English · Years 3–4

Homophones explained for parents

By Dave Allen · Updated · 5 min read

Drafted and fact-checked with AI help, against the sources below. Not yet reviewed by a teacher. How we write our guides

What it is

Homophone
One of two (or more) words that sound exactly the same when you say them, but mean different things and are spelt differently. Sea and see are homophones.
Near-homophone
Words that sound almost, but not quite, the same, so they're easy to mix up. Quite and quiet are near-homophones, and so are accept and except.
Homonym
Not the same thing, though the names are close. Homonyms look and sound the same but mean different things: the bark of a dog and the bark on a tree.

Because homophones sound the same, your child can't hear which spelling to use. They have to know which word they mean, then remember how that word is spelt. That's why homophones are taught as spelling, not just as vocabulary.

Some homophones come in threes. There, their and they're all sound the same, and so do to, too and two. These are some of the most common words in English, so they come up in almost everything your child writes.

How it's taught at school

The national curriculum for England builds homophones up over the primary years. The spelling appendix suggests example words for each stage; schools choose how and when to teach them within those years.

  • Year 2: telling homophones and near-homophones apart. Examples in the curriculum include there/their/they're, here/hear, quite/quiet, see/sea, bare/bear, one/won, sun/son, to/too/two, be/bee, blue/blew and night/knight.
  • Years 3 and 4: spelling "further homophones". Examples include accept/except, affect/effect, brake/break, fair/fare, great/grate, meat/meet, peace/piece, plain/plane, rain/rein/reign, scene/seen, weather/whether and whose/who's.
  • Years 5 and 6: continuing to tell apart homophones and other words that are often confused, such as advice/advise and practice/practise.

Practising in sentences matters, because the sentence is what tells you which spelling is right. A spelling list on its own can't show the difference between meat and meet; "I'll meet you at the gate" can.

A little hook for each word can help: a picture, a story or a pattern in the spelling. A few you could try at home:

  • hear has an ear in it, and you hear with your ear.
  • here, there and where are all about places, and they all have here inside them.
  • piece starts with pie: a piece of pie.
  • they're has an apostrophe because it's short for they are. Try saying "they are" instead: if it makes sense, it's they're.

Tip
Work on one pair at a time, and pick the pair your child mixes up most in their own writing. Two or three pairs learnt well beat a long list half-learnt.

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Common mistakes (and how to help)

Mixing up there, their and they're
Lots of children find this tricky, and lots of grown-ups do too. Use the hooks: there has here in it (a place), their means it belongs to them, and they're is short for they are. Practise one at a time in sentences.
Writing to when they mean too
Too has an extra o, and it means "also" or "more than enough": too hot, me too. A handy hook is that too has too many o's. Two is the number, and to is everything else.
Mixing up whose and who's
Who's is short for who is or who has. Ask your child to swap in "who is". If the sentence still makes sense ("Who's coming?"), it's who's. If not ("Whose coat is this?"), it's whose.
Choosing the spelling that looks right without thinking about the meaning
When your child is checking their writing, ask "Which meaning do you want here?" before "How is it spelt?". Noticing the meaning first is the real skill.

Three quick activities at home

Homophone pictures

About 10 minutes · You need: Paper and a pencil

  1. Pick one homophone pair your child mixes up, such as pear and pair.
  2. Ask your child to draw a quick picture for each word and write the word under it, such as a pear and a pair of socks.
  3. Stick the pictures up somewhere you'll both see them for a week.

Which one do I mean?

About 5 minutes · You need: Nothing: this works well on a walk or a car journey

  1. Say a sentence with a homophone in it, such as "I'd like a piece of cake."
  2. Ask your child to spell the homophone out loud, or tell you which one you meant.
  3. Then let your child set you one. Get one wrong now and then, so they can put you right.

Homophone hunt

About 5 minutes · You need: A book, a recipe or a cereal box

  1. Look through the text together for words that have a homophone, such as flour, night or whole.
  2. For each one, ask your child to say the other word in the pair and use it in a sentence.
  3. See how many pairs you can find in five minutes.

Try it with your child

Free Pipkin puzzles on this topic. No sign-up. They open on the children's side of Pipkin.

Questions parents ask

Does my child need to know the word homophone?

It helps, but the spelling matters more than the label. Your child's teacher will use the word, so it's useful to recognise it when homework comes home.

My child spells the words right in a test but not in their writing. Is that normal?

Yes, very. In a spelling test your child knows which word is being tested. In their own writing they have to notice it themselves while thinking about everything else. Gently pointing to one homophone in a piece of writing, and asking which meaning they wanted, builds the habit.

Are its and it's homophones?

Yes. They sound the same. It's is short for it is or it has, and its means belonging to it, as in "The dog wagged its tail." The curriculum makes a point of this: it's is never used to show belonging.

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Related guides

Sources

  1. Department for Education: English Appendix 1: Spelling
  2. Department for Education: National curriculum in England: English programmes of study
  3. Department for Education: English glossary (national curriculum)
  4. BBC Bitesize: What are homophones?