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Do Homophones Confuse You?

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Homophones are curious business. Word lovers find them fascinating, but others, not so much. How can two words that sound the same be spelled completely different, have dissimilar meanings, and yet both be a valid part of a language? That question is for another day, but if homophones confuse you this quiz could be a worthwhile experience (or perhaps only confuse you more).

Have fun and when your head stops spinning let us know in the comments below whether (not weather) you learned anything.

  • Question of

    Do all homophones sound alike?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Why are guest and guessed considered homophones?

    • They begin with the same letters.
    • They are pronounced the same.
  • Question of

    Are air and heir homophones?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Which of the following words are homophones?

    • Ladder and Latter
    • Higher and Hire
    • Jars and Gars
  • Question of

    Can words with a possessive apostrophe be homophones?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Which of the following are homophones?

    • Links and Lynx’s
    • Doughs and Dozes
    • Who’s and Whose
  • Question of

    Which sentence correctly uses homophones?

    • He, to, herd the heard running so he decided two divide it in too.
    • I looked into the eye of the needle but my thread wholly missed the hole.
    • We were aloud to bid the old principle goodbye on principal but not to say it allowed.
  • Question of

    Are advice and advise homophones?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Are three words that sound similar but have different meanings be homophones?

    • Yes
    • No
  • Question of

    Which of the following are not homophones?

    • Weather, Whether, Wether
    • Predominates, Predominant, Predominance
    • Palette, Pallet, Palate
  • Question of

    Which of the following sentences is correct?

    • All things considered, the parody was parity.
    • The illusive hummingbird seemed elusive.
  • Question of

    Which of these sentences is incorrect?

    • Before he ate the cache at eight his auntie upped the ante with cash.
    • Her eminent arrival threatened to undermine the imminent designer’s show.
  • Question of

    Which of these sentences uses homophones correctly?

    • The cook pares the pairs of pears in the spare bowl with care.
    • She should ware it wear ever she would where the fur coat.
    • They would not insure coverage, nor would they ensure it.
  • Question of

    Which kind of doctor would you rather have…

    • One who loses his patience?
    • One who loses his patients?
    • One who loses neither?

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English languagegrammarhomonymslanguagewords

Written by robertatalloni

41 Comments

  1. Sorry for the duplicate. I thought I was just answering Ellie and then the page flipped back and the comment was here, too. I am a native speaker and former English teacher. I missed a couple of these because they were tricky. I missed another because I didn’t read the question carefully and that tricked me. I thought I was supposed to pick the right answer, not the wrong one. But I disagree with you on two answers and still think I’m right — even after consulting references.

    1

  19. ND: So glad you enjoyed this quiz! 🙂 Though there is some controversy over advice and advise, most homophone sites claim them as their own. Apparently their pronunciation is close enough to count in the homophone book of mysteries. This pair’s definitions are often confused, helping to make homophones even more mystifying. Add to this various English pronunciations and we can find ourselves easily bewildered. I have to look many of these up over and over to make sure I’m confused…again! 🙂 But it’s fun stuff for word lovers. Thanks for stopping in!

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  22. Haha, Roberta, I especially like the final question!
    Allow me point out, though, that (#8) advice and advise are not homophones; the first ends in an S sound, while the second ends in a Z sound.
    Re #10, weather and whether are not homophones in all Englishes. My own preserves the distinction. Also in what/watt, when/wen, whine/wine etc.
    Anyway, these are small things. Thanks very much for a fun quiz!