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UNIT VII: HOMOPHONE

Activity I. Study the Homophone

Homophone

homophone (noun): is defined as one of two or more words with the same

pronunciation but different spellings and/or meanings

(example: weak and week)
Homophones are words that have exactly the same sound (pronunciation) but

different meanings and (usually) spelling.

The same sound, but different meanings and spelling:

hour (noun: 60 minutes)
our (possessive adjective: belonging to us)

The same sound and spelling, but different meanings:

bear (noun: large, heavy animal with thick fur)
bear (verb: tolerate, endure)

Usually homophones are in groups of two (our, hour), but occasionally they can be
in groups of three (to, too, two) or even more. If we take our bear example, we can
add another word to the group:

bear (noun: large, heavy animal with thick fur)
bear (verb: tolerate, endure)
bare (adjective: naked, without clothes)

Practice this:

Our bear cannot bear to be bare at any hour.

The word homophone is made from two combining forms:

• homo- (from the Greek word homos, meaning "same")

• -phone (from the Greek word phone, meaning "sound" or "voice")

42 | MODUL PRONUNCIATION PRACTICE